in Kauai. The store was very humble. The exterior was painted white. The lumber used was rough 1—12 and the corrugated iron roof was red. The ten by ten room had shelves on the walls, a counter, large lockers in the business room, and a small partitioned space in the rear served as a bedroom.
The shelves were lined only with goods that would meet a ready sale. In the beginning, non-essentials and articles of luxury were avoided. To ensure a quick turnover with limited capital, he must be discriminating in the selection of merchandise and be satisfied with a small margin of profit. Reasonableness in price was his best and most effective means of advertising. It used to be the custom for Japanese wholesale houses of Honolulu to credit little country stores liberally. For payment of one hundred dollars, three hundred dollar's worth of goods were sold with a grace period of three months. The wholesale merchants themselves had a one year grace period from the export merchants of Japan. The Japanese retail merchants were yet in the kindergarten stage and the big American wholesalers of Honolulu extended no credit to them. Seikichi obtained a better bargain for himself by demanding that he get special prices for his goods as he was getting only two hundred dollar's worth of articles for his hundred in cash. Besides, he was able to rely on Yone for special articles that could be bought cheaper than from the wholesalers. He only had to work harder and make many more friends.
Soon, not only Makaweli but neighboring plantations were included in his sphere of activity. It would not long remain a one man affair; he would in a short while send for his bride, one chosen by his parents. With a wife to help him at the store, he could resume peddling to the outlying camps. A wife was a necessity now. As to her feminine charms and adaptability and capabilities as a wife, the wiser and experienced eyes of his parents and elders would be more discerning than the judgment of a love-hungry youngster. There would be children and many of them. Employed help would be obtained and he would have branch stores in strategic places over Kauai. He would eventually expand to Honolulu where he would start a wholesale department. If everything should proceed as scheduled (he had drawn up a plan in his solitary moments of day-dreaming) he would have offices in San Francisco and Kobe. All the profits enjoyed by middlemen would be eliminated and he would emerge as Seikichi Arata, the international trader. Opportunity in Hawaii was abundant. It was there for the picking. Only hard work and a little imagination were necessary requisites. Courage was the deciding factor to embark on any untried experience.
In 1898, he wrote to his father:
My Dear Father,
I hope everybody, beginning with my august parents, is well, even during this present season of oppressive heat. I am well and pray do not trouble your mind on my account. I am fortunate in having prospered in my new venture. My humble store has quadrupled in business and I believe this fact is the result of your unceasing prayers at the altar of the gods for the success of your son in Hawaii. Under the circumstances I feel keenly the want of an extra pair of hands to assist me in my work and also to add completeness to my life. I am old enough to have a wife and would beseech my beloved parents to send me a helpmate who would meet with your approval. To your wise judgment I leave the entire matter. For only with such experienced eyes can a mother to bear sturdy sons to the Aratas be selected.
Sincerely, your son
Seikichi
Four months later, an answer and a parcel post arrived:
My Dear Son,
Your mother and I were extremely glad to receive your letter. The summer months were bad but now cool autumn is here. The present is the season of "high clear sky when horses wax fat " After the harvest we are now taking life easy. The 210th day monsoon storms did not strike this region and we are all rejoicing over a bumper crop of rice.
Regarding your request, we have been more than pleased. It is high time that you thought of such serious matters. We lost no time and approached Moemon-san who is almost a professional match-maker, to see if he had on his roster of eligible girls one that would meet with your approval. It was with chagrin that they were as the ancient saying goes, "too short for obi and too long for tasuki." So I took off and made rounds of relatives in different villages. When I came to Mitajiri and visited with Gengoro Yamaki, he was pleased and said his second daughter, now nineteen, might be available for this match. You know the Yamakis are related to us by marriage, but there is no blood relationship. Their line is not tainted with insanity, epilepsy, leprosy, or other obnoxious diseases. She had a few years of schooling—can write and do arithmetic—is healthy. As to her feminine charms, I am sending you a recent photograph so that you may judge for yourself Let me know your reaction. Your mother and I are enthusiastic about this match. The girl is not adverse to going to Hawaii.
Your loving Father.
Hurriedly, Seikichi opened the parcel. Under several wrappings of newspaper, a photograph of a buxom lass appeared. Under a coiffure that abruptly rose from her forehead—hair brushed up to leave both ears clear and a lump protruding at the nape of the neck—there was a rather round, plump face. She could not be called a beauty, but was by no means ugly. The full length picture showed her to be taller than the usual Japanese girl. Even the thick, many layered kimono could not hide the fact that she was well formed and strong limbed. Anyway, he wanted a helpmate, and a mother of his children. She must not be too tall, for he was not himself tall and it did not look dignified to have a wife taller than he. If her temperament, outlook on life, and womanly virtues passed the scrutiny of a jealous mother, then she must be allright. There was an irrepressible smile of satisfaction on his mouth. Life was sweet; there were many things to work for; the vista of human endeavor was unlimited.
A letter of acceptance, with a money order for two hundred dollars enclosed, was sent to his father on the following day. However, he did not breathe a word of his secret to anyone. He was too bashful to be tormented with well-intentioned but at times vulgar teasing by his friends. The arrival of his bride must be a complete surprise. Seikichi by this time was quite a businessman. As an after-thought he went around among his friends, organized a tanomoshi, and raised three hundred dollars under the pretext that further capital was needed for his active little shop.
When money was needed, it was obtained in a singular manner. A financial institution of mutual assistance among the common people of Japan evolved slowly during the centuries in a country without banks. It was meant to escape the predatory menace of usurious moneylenders. In Hawaii, happily, there was as yet no man of this vampire class, but the people did not forget the blessings of the tanomoshi system, which worked as follows. A fellow in need of a lump sum of cash would get together with his friends and ask for help. If twelve men, a convenient number, comprised this group, they would each contribute a fixed monthly sum of about ten dollars. The first month's proceeds of one hundred and twenty dollars was to go to the fellow in need of the money. Beginning with the second month, the remaining eleven had a chance to bid for the pot. The highest bidder got the money but he had to pay the other ten dividends, equal to the figure of the bid. This "return" was at least "ten percent. Sometimes it went as high as thirty percent. The longer one refrained from "taking" the tanomoshi, the more profitable it would be because the competition would be less keen and the dividend payment smaller towards the end. If he was the last, he would receive the one hundred twenty intact in addition to the monthly dividends he had been acquiring.
It was a convenient way of raising cash and a most profitable way of increasing funds for those that had money lying idle. The system operated so successfully that in later years other nationalities joined their Japanese friends in order to get better returns than banks were paying. Since there was no security or collateral and the system was based on credit and character only, it was not surprising to find absconders and deadbeats who betrayed their trust to the grief of trusting friends. That it continued to function in spite of these setbacks and in the face of commercial banks later on, is based on the soundness of its basic concept and simplicity of conduct to the satisfaction of all. Besides, it was a splendid way for friends to get together each month for a social affair and invariably a little refreshment was served at each meeting. There was no kow-towing to bank managers; there was no burden on the borrower in this arrangement.
Arata had two such tanomoshi of fifteen months each. He then sent three hundred dollars to his father with instructions to shop in the wholesale houses of Osaka and gather inexpensive articles of luxury