県人会の歴史

History of Kenjinkai

Originally the kenjinkai in Hawaii developed as a means to unite immigrants from the same prefecture for mutual support and to maintain their connection with Japan. After World War II, kenjinkai became more formally organized. They held social gatherings to bring together generations of families and friends, especially issei who shared a prefectural history and a spoken dialect, and to maintain community connectedness among the members. Picnics and shinnen enkai (New Year’s celebration) were two events often held by the kenjinkai. The prefectures of Hiroshima, Kumamoto, Okinawa, and Yamaguchi were represented by many kenjinkai because the issei, first generation Japanese immigrants, came in large numbers from these districts.

The kenjinkai is not the same as the kumiai, an association for Japanese in plantation camps and communities outside of a plantation. Those in a kumiai supported each other especially for funerals, memorial services, and tanomoshi (mutual financial) clubs to help families financially.