The term Picture Bride refers to the practice in the early 20th Century of immigrant workers (chiefly Japanese and Korean) in Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States selecting brides from their native countries via a matchmaker, who paired bride and groom using only photographs and family recommendations of the possible candidates. This is an abbreviated form of the traditional matchmaking process, and is similar in a number of ways to the concept of the Mail-order bride. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Immigration is the act of moving to or settling in another country or region, temporarily or permanently. ... State nickname: The Aloha State Other U.S. States Capital Honolulu Largest city Honolulu Governor Linda Lingle Official languages Hawaiian and English Area 28,337 km² (43rd)  - Land 16,649 km²  - Water 11,672 km² (41. ... See: West Coast of the United States West Coast, New Zealand West Coast, Tasmania This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Matchmaking is any expert-run process of introducing people for the purposes of dating and mating, usually in the context of marriage. ... Mail-order bride is the term often used to describe women who come to a foreign land from a less developed area after only correspondence or short meeting with their eventual mate. ...

The Picture Bride Topic in Modern Media

In 1993, a novel titled Picture Bride was written by Yoshiko Uchida, and tells the story of a fictional Japanese woman named Hana Omiya, a picture bride sent to live with her new husband in San Francisco in 1917. The novel also focuses on her experiences in a Japanese internment camp in 1943. 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003) Events Media:January January 1 - Czechoslovakia divides. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... This article is about the city in California. ... 1917 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... A concentration camp is a large detention centre created for political opponents, aliens, specific ethnic or religious groups, civilians of a critical war-zone, or other groups of people, often during a war. ... 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ...

In 1994, a movie called Picture Bride (unrelated to Uchida's novel) was made by Hawaii-born director Kayo Hatta and starred Youki Kudoh in the title role. The film tells the story of Riyo, a Japanese woman whose family- and matchmaker-sponsored photograph exchange with a plantation owner sends her to Hawaii. 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as part of...

For those fluent in Korean, a 2003 book entitled Sajin Sinbu (Korean for "Picture Bride"), compiled by Park Nam Soo, provides a thorough Korean/Korean-American cultural approach to the topic, providing a historical overview of the picture bride phenomenon in the Korean context, as well as related poetry, short stories, essays, and critical essays written by various Korean/Korean-American authors. The book was compiled for the Korean centennial, marking the one-hundred year anniversary of the first known arrival of Korean immigrants to U.S. territory in 1903 aboard the SS Gaelic. 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and also: The International Year of Freshwater The European Disability Year Events January January 1 - Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva becomes the 37th President of Brazil. ... An anniversary is a day that commemorates an event that occurred on the same day of the year some time in the past. ... 1903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasnt had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. ...

Korean Picture Brides: Historical Context

In 1903, the first Korean immigrants to United States territories arrived in Hawaii aboard the SS Gaelic. The SS Gaelic departed from Nagasaki, Japan, on December 29, 1902 and arrived in port at Honolulu on January 13, 1903. The SS Gaelic carried 102 Korean laborers. A letter by American passenger aboard the SS Gaelic David Deschler to the secretary of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association notes that there are "2 Interpreters... 54 Male Laborers... 21 Women (wives of above)... 12 Children (half fares)... 1 Child (quarter fare)... 12 Babies (free)... Total 102 persons." Megane-bashi, the Eyeglasses Bridge Nagasaki (長崎市; -shi) is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture located at the south-western coast of Kyushu, Japan. ... Honolulu as seen from the International Space Station Honolulu is the largest city and the capital of the U.S. state of Hawai‘i. ...

For the first decade or so of immigration, the [United States Sentate]]'s Statistical Review of Immigration 1820-1910 reports an estimated 7,291 Koreans coming to the U.S., the overwhelming majority of whom were male, in their mid-30's or significantly younger, and thus were mostly single men of working age. Many of the jobs these laborers took were in agriculture-- working on plantations and the like, particularly with sugar cane.

By 1916, the reports were that about 5,000 Koreans remained in Hawaii, about 4/5 of whom were male. Only about 300 were professionals or students.

With a disproportionately single, male, and aging Korean immigrant community, demand rose sharply for Korean wives in Hawaii. A cursory examination of Hawaiian passports issued to Koreans from 1910-1924 immediately reveals that the newest immigrants were overwhelmingly in their mid-30's or younger and female. To qualify for a Hawaiian passport, hopefuls needed to list their relation to someone already living in Hawaii. The majority of applicants claimed their relationship as "wife" to a Hawaiian resident. Some 1,300 passports for Koreans wishing to travel to Hawaii during this time period were distributed, but only an estimated 859 arrived at the islands.

Many of these "wives" coming about a decade after the first Korean immigrants came to Hawaii were "Picture Brides." Immigrant workers sent their photographs to a matchmaker in Korea, who then matched his photo with a photo of a young woman. The woman's family and matchmaker would work together to select a suitable mate, and the bride-to-be would be sent to Hawaii with a legally binding contract to her new husband once she landed on Hawaiian soil. Because many of the immigrant workers hadn't had photos taken of themselves since their immigration to Hawaii, and photographs were quite expensive, many immigrant men sent Korean matchmakers "false" or out-of-date photos, thus making the grooms appear to be much younger than they actually were. The picture brides, upon arriving to Hawaii and discovering this deceit, had no way of backing out of their contracts.

Historians consider the immigration up until 1924 to be the "grace period" for Asian immigrants, as it was in this year that the U.S. government passed the Oriental Exclusion Act, which essentially made U.S. citizenship and property ownership a difficult if not impossible goal for Asian immigrant-hopefuls. Thus, the picture bride phenomenon's relationship to the early years of Korean immigration may be said to end at roughly this time. 1924 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

(Note that the above numbers and statistics, unless stated otherwise, apply specifically to Koreans and picture brides in Hawaii, and not necessarily the continental United States, where the picture bride practice also existed in immigrant communities of several different nations of origin.)

References

• Choe, Yong-Ho; Kim, Ilpyong J.; Han, Moo-Young (2003). Annotated Chronology of the Korean Immigration to the United States: 1882 to 1952 (http://www.duke.edu/~myhan/kaf0501.html). Retrieved Apr. 23, 2005.
• Deschler, David W (1902). Business Letter: Aboard the SS Gaelic with David Deschler (http://koreancentennial.org/earlylife.htm). From the Files of the Waialua Sugar Company, Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Archives, Hamilton Library, University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Retrieved Apr. 23, 2005.
• Mark, Diane Mei Lin (Date??). Introduction to the Making of Picture Bride (http://www.naatanet.org/picturebride/idx_intro.html). Retrieved Apr. 23, 2005.
• Murabayshi, Duk Hee Lee; Lee, Chan (Ed) (2001). Passports Issued to Koreans in Hawai'i 1910-1924 (as .pdf from koreancentennial.org) (http://koreancentennial.org/passport.pdf). University of Hawai'i at Manoa: Center for Korean Studies.
• Murabayshi, Duk Hee Lee; Hahn, Jeewon (Ed) (2001). Korean Passengers Arriving at Honolulu, 1903-1905 (as .pdf from koreancentennial.org) (http://koreancentennial.org/passlist.pdf). University of Hawai'i at Manoa: Center for Korean Studies.
• Paik, Earl K (1916). Koreans in the U.S. in 1916 (http://koreancentennial.org/earlylife4.htm). From the Papers of William E. Griffis, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Retrieved Apr. 23, 2005.
• Park, Nam Soo (2003). Sajin Sinbu (Picture Bride). Ellicot City, MD: Worin Publishing Co.
• Uchida, Yoshiko (1993). Picture Bride. University of Washington Press (1997 Reprint Ed). ISBN 0295976160.

External links

• True Story of a Korean Picture Bride: Esther Kwon Arinaga (http://koreancentennial.org/bae.htm)
• About Picture Bride, novel by Yoshiko Uchida (http://www.asianamericanbooks.com/books/2403.htm)
• Information from the filmmaker about Picture Bride, film by Kayo Hatta (http://www.naatanet.org/picturebride/index.html)
• Koreancentennial.org's early Korean immigration resources, including passport and immigration lists in downloadable .pdf format (http://koreancentennial.org/resources.htm)