Hiroshi Kashiwagi

Hiroshi Kashiwagi (, November 8, 1922 – October 29, 2019) was a Nisei (second-generation Japanese American) poet, playwright and actor. For his writing and performance work on stage he is considered an early pioneer of Asian American theatre.

Early life and education Kashiwagi was born in 1922 in Sacramento, California. He grew up in Loomis, a small fruit-growing town in Placer County, California, where his Issei parents ran a fish market. He attended Loomis Elementary school, Placer High School and Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, graduating in 1940. He also attended Japanese language school, where he did his first writing and performing.

During World War II, following the signing of Executive Order 9066, Kashiwagi and his family were sent to the Tule Lake War Relocation Center, an internment camp for Japanese Americans.

Career Kashiwagi worked at the Buddhist headquarters in San Francisco for almost eight years as a translator and interpreter, English secretary and editor. He also was employed at the San Francisco Public Library as a reference librarian in literature, Japanese language materials, science and government documents, and as a branch manager. At the Western Addition Branch Library, he started what became the largest collection of Japanese language books on the West Coast. He retired after 20 years in 1987.

Kashiwagi appeared in several films, including Black Rain, directed by Ridley Scott, and Hito Hata: Raise the Banner produced by Visual Communications.

Personal life In 1959, with the help of attorney Wayne Collins, Kashiwagi had his United States citizenship restored. Kashiwagi would later dedicate his book Swimming in the American: a Memoir and Selected Writings to Collins, "who rescued me as an American and restored my faith in America".

He resided in San Francisco, California, with his wife and had three grown sons, including playwright Soji Kashiwagi, leader of the Japanese American theatre troupe, the Grateful Crane Ensemble. Kashiwagi was a member of Dramatists Guild and Screen Actors Guild. He died on October 29, 2019.