Shizue Komamura Obituary

SHIZUE KOMAMURA Our beloved Mom was born in Honolulu to Yoshio and Taneyo Saito and passed away at the age of 102 and 3/4 years old. She attended Kaiulani Elementary School in Palama and graduated from Hinode Girls High School in Tokyo, Japan. Her bilingual abilities allowed her to work at the Hawaii Times Japanese newspaper as a typesetter for 45 years. Her quiet, gentle, kind and serene nature (as her name implies) belied the strong, disciplined, hard-working and persevering person underneath. This enabled her to endure WWII alone in Hawaii, with brothers fighting in opposing militaries in the Pacific. After the war, in spite of her own situation, Mom greatly helped, financially and materially, her devastated family in post-war Tokyo. Mom had a passion for music and the arts. Upon hearing koto Japanese harp music from a building in Honolulu at the age of 4 while walking with her mom, she begged her skeptical mom to learn. She ultimately played the koto for over 97 years, including in numerous concerts. She earned her Shihan koto master teaching license from the Chikushi Suma no Kai of Japan, taught koto to students in Hawaii for over 25 years, and served as Sensei and President of the Hawaii Chikushi Suma no Kai Chapter. She also sewed, knitted, crocheted, wove (and repaired) household items and her sons' clothes, and made many needlepoint (bunka shishu) "paintings" of scenery and portraits. For many years, she loved to take home movies, videos and photographs. Travelling by necessity to and from Japan multiple times at an early age, she later travelled for enjoyment before and after her retirement to Maui and Kona, Japan, Europe & the continental USA. Predeceased by her husband Yasushi and survived by sons Irvin and Wayne. Private services held. Arrangements Provided By: Nuuanu Memorial Park & Mortuary LLC