Takuma Kajiwara

Kajiwara was born on November 15, 1876, in Fukuoka, Japan, to a samurai family of artists and art lovers.[1][4] He was the third of five brothers.[6][7] One of them, Kango, was a court painter.[8][9]

Takuma came to St. Louis in the United States in 1905, "lured to the city partly by an offer of employment in a studio and even more by a desire to see the Mississippi River," according to his obituary in the St. Louis Star-Times.[2] While in St. Louis he lived at the Warwick Hotel.[10]

When he was in his late 20s, he played billiards and was described by a sports reporter then as being "small, slight and supple." He used a cue stick presented to him by Willie Hoppe, the billiards master.[11]

He was a naturalized citizen of the United States.[8]

Kajiwara was married on June 6, 1936, in Queens, New York, to Fern Horton Searls of Wisconsin, who had been employed as a social service worker at the Washington University clinic.[5][12] They were wed in the home of Paul F. Berdanier, a former St. Louis artist.[13] In 1938, the Kajiwaras went to Japan and stayed a year.[6][14] In his obituaries, his wife was identified as Makota or Makoto Kajiwara. He was also survived by two brothers who lived in Japan.[1][8] Fern Searls was born on July 30, 1893, and died in New York City at the age of 61 on July 13, 1955.[14][15][16]

Kajiwara and artist Frederick Oakes Sylvester were friends. According to one account, their amity was "warm enough to cause them to cut wrists and mingle blood in a gesture of unity." Kajiwara did photographic work for The Great River, a book by Sylvester collecting his paintings of the Mississippi. Photos show the men painting together.[17]

Later in life, for recreation, he enjoyed golf.[2]

Kajiwara died of a cerebral hemorrhage in New York City on March 11, 1960.[1]

• Zoe Akins, playwright and author[22]
• Roger N. Baldwin, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union[23]
• Blanche Bates, actress
• Elise J. Blattner, lecturer[22]
• Lulu Kunkel Burg, violinist[22]
• Eveline Burgess, chess champion[22]
• Lucille Erskine, writer, educator and publicist[22]
• Emma Goldman, activist and writer[24]
• Florence Hayward, writer[22]
• Paul E. Harney Jr., Artist[22]
• Carl Hein, clergyman[25]
• Marguerite Martyn, journalist[22]
• Baron Masanoa Matsudaira, Vice-president of the Japanese Commission for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition[26]
• Fannie E. McKinney Hughey, music educator[22]
• Louise McNair, educator[22]
• Elizabeth Avery Meriwether, suffragist and author[22]
• Bessie Morse, educator[22]
• Alice Curtice Moyer, writer and suffragist[22]
• Hannah D. Pittman, journalist and librettist[22]
• Frances Porcher, writer and journalist[22]
• Helen R. Rathbun, artist[22]
• Charlie Russell, artist[27]
• Adele Schulenburg, sculptor[22]
• Frederick Oakes Sylvester, painter[28]
• Caroline G. Thummel, attorney[22]
• Adeline Palmier Wagoner, social leader[22]
• Sophronia Wilson Wagoner, missionary and social worker[22]
• Berenice Wyer, pianist, composer and lecturer[22]
• Frances Cushman Wines, real estate pioneer[29]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Takuma Kajiwara.

• "St. Louis Jap on School Question," The Republic (Columbus, Indiana), February 12, 1907, page 3. Kajiwara gives his opinion about California actions against Japanese-born school children.
• "Major Visits Artists and Exchanges Compliments," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 14, 1925, page 19. Sketch of Kajiwara by artist Henry Major.
• (in Japanese) Niimi Kahee (新見嘉兵衛), Kamera-mei no gogen sanpo (カメラ名の語源散歩, Strolls in the etymology of camera names), 2nd ed. (Tokyo: Shashin Kōgyō Shuppansha, 2002; ISBN 487956060X, p. 18.
• An investigation by enthusiasts into the supposed Japanese gravesite of Fujiwara's remains.
• Personal references to Kujiwara by people who owned his portraits.