One of the first Japanese settlers in America was the last samurai.
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. 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.
The group was led by Henry Schnell — a Prussian weapons consultant and translator for Lord Matsudaira Katamori of Aizu. Schnell had been adopted into Japanese society under the name Hiramatsu Buhei and married Jou, the daughter of a samurai.
The colony’s first year showed promise, growing tea and raising silkworms. But unexpected drought, pollution from nearby gold mining, and lack of sustained financial support ended the dream by year two. Schnell and his family returned to Japan. Others drifted into the American West.
Yet in their brief time, the Wakamatsu Colony left a powerful 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, a teenage girl who came as a nanny with the Schnell family. She was the first Japanese woman buried on American soil.
They were the last of old Japan. And the first of Japanese America.
More Diverse Than You’d Think
More than 150 years after the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm 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 Wakamatsu Colony dissolved, married an African American woman, and started a family. His descendants, including Andrea and Jayson, are a living legacy of this early, often-overlooked chapter of Japanese American history. Their presence reminds us that the story of Japanese America has always been more complex, and more diverse, than most people might realize.
The First Japanese in America
While the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony marked the first Japanese settlement in the U.S., it wasn’t the first time a Japanese person set foot on American soil. That distinction likely belongs to John Manjirō — a shipwrecked fisherman who arrived decades earlier, eventually becoming a bridge between two nations.
