Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Summer II/Section 06

Kosaku Sawada
Nationality	Japanese-American
Occupation	Nursery owner
Spouse(s)	Nobu Yoshioka
Children	4

Overview

Kosaku Sawada was a Japanese American immigrant born on October 21, 1882. He owned a Nursery in Mobile, Alabama, and specialized in plant propagation.

Biography

Personal life

A bud of a Japanese camellia

Sawada was born in Osaka, central Japan, on October 21, 1882. Raised in a family of six, Sawada graduated from Osaka University with a degree in agriculture. In 1916, Sawada married Nobu Yoshioka in San Francisco. According to Sawada, he and his wife never met before the wedding. They had four children together--three boys and one girl. After Mrs. Sawada's death in 1930, Sawada raised all of his children alone.

Immigration to America

Sawada first came to America in 1906 and worked in rice fields in Texas. Four years later, Sawada moved to Grand Bay, Alabama for new oppotunities. The orange tree boom in Alabama led Sawada to purchase thirty acres orchard where he planted orange and pecan trees. Sawada's orchard was destoryed by the cold weather in 1923, so he purchase eighty acres of new land on the Howells Ferry Road in Mobile, Alabama.

Career

Sawada specialized in propagating plants and sold his product to other nurseryman. Among the millions of plants he grew are azaleas, small trees, camellia japonicas and evergreens. According to Sawada, propagation is a delicate technique that had a low success rate but he achieved 95% survival. Sawada conducted his work by hand and hired nineteen to twenty-five American workers. Sawada joined the Associated American Nurserymen and claimed that he is connected with nurserymen across the country.