Although the Paradise Ridge exhibit is considerably smaller than the pre-fire exhibit, it is the only permanent exhibit in the United States devoted to Nagasawa (the Sonoma County Museum, which houses an extensive collection of Kanagawa and Fountaingrove, organized temporary exhibitions). Nagasawa’s largest collection resides in Japan, where a museum preserving the legacy of the 19 samurai students, the Satsuma Students Museum, opened in Kagoshima in 2014. Ten descendants of Nagasawa attended the opening, joined by René .
Just above Paradise Ridge, the city of Santa Rosa established the 33-acre Nagasawa Community Park in 2007, dedicated in a ceremony attended by many members of the Nagasawa family. And at Paradise Ridge, just behind the parcel of chardonnay grapes known as Nagasawa Vineyard, a small fenced area contains a newly planted tea plantation, the result of efforts to connect Nagasawa’s heritage with that of Wakamatsu Tea. which employed some of California’s earliest growers. Japanese immigrants in the production of silk and tea.
“Much of California agriculture owes its beginnings to Japanese immigrants. Like the ‘King of the Potato’ and the ‘King of the Garlic,’ as well as the ‘King of the Wine,'” the founder said. of the Nao Magami tea plantation, referring to Japanese immigrants George Shima, whose vast potato harvests led him to become the first Japanese-American millionaire, and Kiyoshi Nagasaki, who became the world’s largest producer country garlic. “But when the Japanese were sent to camps in World War II, all of those stories got lost. Now we’re trying to connect those legacies of those early California pioneers.”
In 2021, the Wakamatsu Group held its first tea ceremony at Paradise Ridge attended by members of the Nagasawa family. But perhaps the best and simplest epitaph for this remarkable man is the one added by his family to the Nagasawa Park plaque, which describes his life in just four words: “Samurai Spirit in California.”
Rediscovering America is a BBC Travel series that tells the inspiring stories of forgotten, overlooked or misunderstood aspects of the United States, flipping the script on familiar history, cultures and communities.
—
Join over three million BBC Travel fans by liking us on Facebookor follow us on Twitter and instagram.
If you liked this story, sign up for bbc.com’s weekly features newsletter called “The Essential List”. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Worklife and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday.