May 1. On this date in 1961, Kanichi Yamamoto, the first Japanese Bahá’í, died in Berkeley, California.

May 1. On this date in 1961, Kanichi Yamamoto, the first Japanese Bahá’í, died in Berkeley, California.

Kanichi Yamamoto was born in 1879 in the Yamaguchi Prefecture of Japan. He moved to Hawaii in the early 1900s and in 1902 started working at the home of Mr. and Mrs. William Smith in Honolulu. The Smiths' son, Clarence was already a Bahá’í and a Bahá’í woman by the name of Elizabeth Muther also lived at the Smith's home. As was required of new converts at the time, Kanichi Yamamoto wrote to 'Abdu’l-Bahá. 'Abdu’l-Bahá, in turn, addressed four Tablets to him.

In March, 1903, Yamamoto moved to Oakland, California, where for years he served in the home of Helen S. Goodall, a prominent and active Bahá’í. In 1908, a young woman by the name of Ima immigrated from Japan to Oakland, California for the express purpose of marrying Yamamoto. There is no record of Ima ever becoming a Bahá’í but the couple played a major role in taking care of guests at the Goodall's home which had become a hub of Bahá’í orientated activities in the Oakland area at that time.

On October 22, 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá arrived in San Francisco where he met Kanichi Yamamoto in person. While there, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá also gave the three son's of Mr. Yamamoto Persian names: “To Hirose, the eldest, he gave the name of Hassan; to Hinju, Hossein, and to Masao, Farouk.”
During ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's stay in San Francisco, Mr. Yamamoto actually arranged a meeting for him at the Japanese Independent Church. The Yamamotos later decided to move to Berkeley, California where their children attended Bahá’í childrens classes. The childrens' teacher was Kathryn Frankland who also happened to teach the Bahá’í Faith to Saichiro Fujita, the second Japanese to accept the Bahá’í Faith.

The Yamamotos had six children, five boys and one girl named Fumiko. In 1919, while pregnant with Fumiko, Ima decided to visit her family in Japan and took their five boys with her. Fumiko was born in Japan. Shortly after the delivery, Ima died from influenza. Ima's sister, Tame, agreed to take care of all the six children until Kanichi Yamamoto arrived from the U.S. He and Tame decided that he would take the four oldest sons back to California and leave the two youngest ones with Tame. After Mr. Yamamoto arrived in the U.S., it proved difficult for him to attend to the four sons alone. News of this hardship eventually reached Tame who decided to immigrate to the U.S. and marry Kanichi Yamamoto.

During World War II, the Yamamotos were forced to relocate to an internment camp at the Gila River Indian Reservation where they had to work in the fields. Ironically, one son, Masao, served in the U.S. armed forces during that time and avoided internment. After the war, Kanichi and his family returned to Berkeley, where he lived until his death on May 1, 1961.