Kamajiro Hotta

Kamajiro Hotta (堀田 鎌次郎, Hotta Kamajiro, born October 26, 1876) was an influential Japanese immigrant farmer in the state of California during the early 20th century. His primary contributions to the California farming industry were in Walnut Grove. While he grew many different crops during his time in the United States, he is most commonly known for growing asparagus.

Early life The highlighted region on the map represents the Aichi Prefecture in Japan where Kamajiro Hotta was born.

Kamajiro Hotta was born on October 26, 1876, in Saori, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Hotta was raised by his father, Keimon, and his mother, Fuku, in Saori.

Immigration documents mark Hotta as literate in Japanese. Hotta's immigration was heavily influenced by his cousin, Kakuzaburo Wakayama. Wakayama was one of the main pioneers for immigration from Saori village to the United States.

Immigration to the United States Following the establishment of the Treaty of Kanagawa, or Japan–US Treaty of Peace and Amity, the previously isolated Japanese nation opened its ports to trade with the United States. Consequently, direct shipping routes between San Francisco and Tokyo were established in 1855. This opened the path for passenger ships to set sail shortly after.

Japanese immigration to the United States was primarily triggered by economic stagnation, high unemployment rates, and poor living conditions because of the rapidly increasing population in Japan. From 1872 to 1903, Japan's population density increased from 1,335 to 1,885 persons per square kilometer, resulting in economic hardship for the Japanese lower class.

At the age of 16 years and 11 months, Kamajiro Hotta first arrived in San Francisco on September 23, 1893, on the ship named City of Rio de Janeiro. Hotta had come to San Francisco as an uncontracted merchant. At the time of his arrival, Hotta had no relatives in the United States to stay with. Hotta and his peers, including Masayoshi Ota, were leading proponents in increasing the number of Japanese immigrants in Concord County and Walnut Grove. Ichi lived with her mother-in-law while in Japan. Immigration records reveal that she had $50 in her possession upon arrival, was literate in Japanese, listed her occupation as “wife,” and was born in Nakayasu Village, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Shortly after his arrival in the new community, he was hired as a farm laborer in the fields of that area. His primary responsibilities were picking crops and taking care of the land for rich, white landowners. After working in the fields for several months, Hotta realized that obtaining a piece of land and farming it was his path out of abject poverty. Although he believed that farming would be a highly lucrative career and that he had the work ethic to pull it off, he initially lacked the necessary up front capital to lease his own plot of land. From 1895 to 1904, Hotta worked tirelessly at a number of different jobs trying to save up enough money to finance his farming ambitions. During this period of time, it is known that he worked as a general farm laborer, a labor contractor, an operator of a boardinghouse in Sacramento, and a Japanese noodle shop owner. In 1904, Hotta finally had enough financial capital saved up to abandon his multiple places of employment and begin his full time career as a landowning farmer. At this time, he and three other Aichi-born Japanese immigrants pooled their money together and purchased three farms as cash tenants in the area surrounding Walnut Grove. These farms included 230 acres of land on Victoria Island, 100 acres of land on Bradford Island, and 250 acres of land on Tyler Island. Kamajiro Hotta was well aware of this financial risk and still pursued growing asparagus in the early 1900s around the area of Walnut Grove. His farming ambitions regarding asparagus ultimately made him a very successful and wealthy farmer. In 1905, Hotta planted asparagus for the first time on his newly acquired land. Due to the three-year time commitment that it takes to grow asparagus up to harvesting height, he was without financial returns from this new investment during this time period.

Hotta's financial success selling asparagus did not end in 1909. In 1910, he successfully brokered a business deal with the California Fruit Canners Association in San Francisco to purchase all of his asparagus cultivated between the years 1910 and 1914.

As a result of the rapid growth in asparagus farming in the Walnut Grove area, Japanese immigrant farmers decided that they needed a local organization to help direct the affairs of their newfound industry and coordinate their efforts to maximize crop profits. Fittingly, Hotta was chosen by the body of local asparagus farmers to head the organization and be the community's spokesperson. In 1908, Hotta was officially elected as president of the Japanese Producers Association. Furthermore, he fought tirelessly against the many restrictive laws that were passed trying to limit the rights and financial successes of Japanese immigrant farmers. As president of the Japanese Producers Association, Kamajiro Hotta frequently used local and state newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle to help citizens understand and sympathize with the challenges faced by Japanese immigrant farmers. One well documented example of Hotta's impact as the president of the Japanese Producers Association is that he publicly called out corrupt white landowners that would not recognize how Japanese immigrant farmers had improved the value of their land. He did this in a 1917 interview with a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle. His intent in making this very open accusation was to rally support for the struggles faced by Japanese immigrant farmers. A second well documented example of Hotta's impact as president of the Japanese Producers Association is that he subleased his land to other Japanese immigrant farmers so that they could avoid making contracts with rich, white landowners. In 1917 alone, Hotta subleased over 1,000 acres of land on Ryer Island under a cash-rent agreement to other Japanese immigrant farmers. A third and final well documented example of his influence as the president of the Japanese Producers Association is that he negotiated a very influential business deal with the manager of the California Packing Corporation in San Francisco in January 1919 which ultimately gave Japanese immigrant farmers a 75-cent wage boost for every 100 pounds of asparagus sold.

As a result of all the aforementioned sources of political tension between whites and Japanese immigrant farmers during the early 20th century, the California state government passed anti-alien farming legislation like the California Alien Land Law of 1913. The 1913 law prohibited "aliens ineligible for citizenship" from purchasing, but permitted the leasing of land for a term of up to three years. In effect, this prevented first-generation issei Japanese immigrants from owning land individually or collectively, forcing them into a system of land tenure where they had to lease land from wealthy white landowners. Despite the passage of this restrictive law, Japanese Americans found a way to circumvent the legislation by using the names of their US-born children for land leases. Furthermore, they found other loopholes in the policy such as being paid in the form of stocks for companies that owned agricultural land.

The California Alien Land Law of 1913, and subsequent revised version in 1920, limited the leasing of agricultural land to a maximum of three years for legal aliens in the state of California. This limitation negatively impacted Japanese immigrant farmers especially because it forced them to find new work every three years or return to Japan. Most of the Japanese immigrants in Walnut Grove did not own land, so their primary concerns regarded leasing limitations. As a result of the profitability of Japanese tenant farmers for land leasers, white landowners in the Walnut Grove area initially supported the efforts of Japanese immigrant farmers that protested the aforementioned barring legislation. After the 1913 law, Japanese tenant farmers like Hotta would try to avoid leasing limitations by jointly purchasing contracts with other Japanese partners, thus multiplying the number of years of the three-year lease by the number of people. Additionally, white landowners would often employ farmers in cropping contracts rather than leasing the land. However, the relationship between the white landowners and the Japanese immigrant farmers was riddled with inequalities like low wages. These inequalities were exacerbated following the 1920 and 1923 revisions of the law. The lack of equality and dismal prospects of farm work in the United States prompted many of the Japanese immigrant farmers, including Hotta, to permanently leave the United States and return to Japan. The majority of them left in the summer of 1924.

Return to Japan and later life After resigning from being president of the local Japanese Producers Association, Kamajiro Hotta left Walnut Grove and returned to Japan in September 1924. Hotta was accompanied by three farmers that he had subleased his 1,000-acre farm to previously. At this time, he felt as though there were no longer prospects for him as a farmer in the United States and that he would be more successful in Japan with the tens of thousands of dollars that he had accrued. Following him, many other Aichi-born immigrants returned to Japan, reflecting the decline of Walnut Grove Japanese agriculture. Details regarding Hotta's life and death following his return to Japan remain unknown.