Chiyoe Kubota

Chiyoe was born in Cache Valley region of Utah in 1915 to Japanese emigrants. Her initial time in Utah was brief: she moved with her parents back to Japan in 1921 and lived there for twelve years. She returned to the United States, specifically California, in 1932 when her aunt found a suitable Japanese young man for her to marry.

Chiyoe and her husband had five children and relocated from California to Ogden, Utah in 1942, just before Executive Order No. 9066 was signed, which mandated relocation for all Japanese and Japanese Americans living in the West’s coastal areas. Despite this state-sanctioned prejudice against Japanese citizens and the onslaught of suspicion and abuse Chiyoe, her family, and her community faced, Chiyoe always maintained an investment in celebrating her cultural heritage. She preserved strong ties to Japan through foodways, holiday traditions, and other cultural arts and shared this knowledge with her children, especially daughter Miiko and son-in-law Barre Toelken, who consulted her when writing The Dynamics of Folklore.

After 40 years in Ogden, she moved back to California and began to learn Temari ball making from a Japanese woman while living in Chula Vista, mastering this traditional art form in her 60s.