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Uchinanchu: A History of Okinawans in Hawai‘i

Nae Nakasone

Uya Anma
N-ji chabita Anma, mo kiti kuyonashigwa
Wamiyakuma wu toti, unigesukutu (kanusamayo)
Agato nu Uchina tu kugatonu Hawai‘i tu
Jinkaninutamiya yinmusudi (kanusamayo)
Ni, san nin tumuti Hawai‘i watatashi ga
Midorisashisuiti, nimutu yishiti (kanusamayo, hari nagurisanu)

My Mother Dear (A Dialogue)
Let me take my leave, my mother.
Earn money and come home, my child,
As I stay home and pray to the gods.
To this Hawai‘i from the faraway Okinawa
We have come all the way for the sake of money.
Thinking it'd only be a few years we came,
But we have now grown our roots deep and with green leaves.

By Nae Nakasone (translation by Mitsugu Sakihara).

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