They fought against the westernization of Japan and ended up in America.
June 8, 1869: The first Japanese settlement in America, Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony, was founded in Gold Hill, California.
They came from Aizu Wakamatsu, on the losing side of Japan’s Boshin Civil War. Ironically, they were fighting for the Shōgun to keep the samurai system alive. Facing the Imperial Army equipped with superior resources and weaponry, the Tokugawa Shōgunate suffered a crushing defeat.
After the fall of the samurai system and the rise of the Meiji Restoration, many had no place left in the new Japan. Among them were skilled carpenters and farmers, as well as an ex-samurai, Matsunosuke Sakurai.
Henry Schnell — a Prussian weapons consultant and translator for Lord Matsudaira Katamori of Aizu, gathered and led a group that departed for the United States. Schnell had been adopted into Japanese society under the name Hiramatsu Buhei and married Jou, the daughter of a samurai.
Soldiers of the Tokugawa Shogunate for the Boshin War – the last samurais, wearing mixture of Western and traditional Japanese elements, c1867
Courtesy of the American River Conservancy
Matsunosuke Sakurai, the last known samurai of the Wakamatsu Colony. He remained in California, making him one of the first long-term Japanese settlers in America.
Courtesy of the American River Conservancy
John Henry Schnell, leader of the Wakamatsu Colony. A Prussian arms dealer and interpreter for the Aizu domain, Schnell married into a samurai family under the name Hiramatsu.
Watercolor by George Mathis
Arrival of the Wakamatsu colonists at Gold Hill, California, 1869. Watercolor by George Mathis depicting the founding of the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony.
Courtesy of the American River Conservancy
Henry Schnell (right) with fellow Wakamatsu colonists. Among the settlers who followed Schnell to California were men who had lived through the fall of the samurai era.
Courtesy of the American River Conservancy
Matsugoro Ōfuji and family, c1870. Ōfuji was one of the Wakamatsu colonists who remained in California after the colony dissolved.
Courtesy of Kanako Yamaguchi
Sakichi Yanagisawa and his daughter Yone. After the Wakamatsu Colony collapsed, he returned to Japan, but later returned to open the first Japanese-owned restaurant.
Courtesy of Kanako Yamaguchi
Japanese waiters at Sakichi Yanagisawa’s restaurant in Oakland. The Wakamatsu Colony lasted only two years. Its legacy lasted much longer.
The First Japanese America
In a deeply ironic twist of fate, the people who fought to preserve the samurai system ended up becoming some of the first Japanese Americans. The colony’s first year showed promise, growing tea and raising silkworms. But drought, pollution from nearby gold mining, and a lack of sustained financial support ended the dream by its second year. Schnell and his family returned to Japan. Others scattered across the American West.
Yet in its brief existence, the Wakamatsu Colony left a lasting mark.
It was the first Japanese settlement in America. It became the birthplace of Mary Schnell, the first U.S.-born Japanese American. And it became the final resting place of Okei Itō, the first Japanese woman buried on American soil.
They were among the last of old Japan. And among the first of Japanese America.
The First Japanese Woman Buried on U.S. Soil
Okei Itō was a 17-year-old nursemaid who arrived with the group. She was believed to be the daughter of Okiku and Bunkichi Ito, who had worked as a carpenter in Aizu Wakamatsu.
Following the colony’s collapse due to drought and financial ruin, a neighboring farming family named Veerkamp purchased the site of the colony in Gold Hill, and hired some members of the former settlement to stay on for work.
The Veerkamps retained Matsunosuke Sakurai, a former Aizu samurai, along with Okei. Themselves immigrants from Germany, Francis and Louisa Veerkamp had six sons, and Okei became the nanny to their younger boys.
Okei just two years later contracted a sudden and severe fever in the summer of 1871 and died just three days later. She was only 19 years old. Her grave remains on a hilltop on the property.
Courtesy of the American River Conservancy
Early colonists at Wakamatsu Colony. The girl may be Okei Itō, who became the first Japanese woman buried on U.S. soil.
Courtesy of the American River Conservancy
After the Wakamatsu Colony dissolved, the Veercamp family offered young Okei a home and work on their farm until her untimely death.
Okei, who journeyed from Japan as a nanny with the Wakamatsu Colony, died at just 19 years old. Her resting place is known as the first grave of a Japanese woman on U.S. soil.
Photo by George H. Gilbert
Kuninosuke Masumizu. One of the original Wakamatsu colonists, he later married an African American woman. Their descendants remain part of the colony’s living legacy.
Courtesy of Kota Morikawa / Nichibei News
Andrea Lashley and her son Jayson stand beneath a portrait of Kuninosuke Masumizu. More than 150 years after Wakamatsu was founded, its legacy lives on.
Continuing the Line
More than 150 years after the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony was founded, its story continues — not just in history books, but in living memory. One of the most remarkable threads comes from the family of Kuninosuke Masumizu, a Japanese carpenter who was among the original colonists.
Masumizu remained in America after the colony dissolved, married an African American woman, and started a family. His descendants, including Andrea and Jayson, are a living legacy of this often-overlooked chapter of Japanese American history.
Japanese America has always been more complex, and more diverse, than most people realize.
That includes the descendants of the last samurai who helped establish the first Japanese settlement in America.
Sources and Links
- American River Conservancy, Wakamatsu Farm — Historical overview of the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony, Okei Itō, and the preservation of the colony site.
- Discover Nikkei — Articles on the history of the Wakamatsu Colony, the Aizu settlers, Okei Itō, and Kuninosuke Masumizu’s descendants.
- Nichi Bei News — Coverage of the descendants of the Wakamatsu colonists.
- Rafu Shimpo — Reporting on Wakamatsu Colony commemorations, preservation efforts, and descendant stories.
- California State Parks, Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony Historical Marker — Historical background on the colony and Okei Itō’s gravesite.
Courtesy of the American River Conservancy
The original site of the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony still stands in Coloma, California. Preserved by the American River Conservancy, the historic site is open.
Photo by Noe Hill / Courtesy of California State Parks
California Historical Landmark marking the site of the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony, the first Japanese settlement in America.