OUCHI Matsu
Born: 26 October 1876 – Died: 12 December 1943
Particulars:
Matsu was born in Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. He arrived in Naarm / Melbourne, Australia in 1901 aboard the Kasuga Maru and lived there for 15 years. He then lived 25 years in Meanjin / Brisbane, Queensland and never revisited Japan. He was working as a laundryman in Dunwich in Queensland when the Pacific War broke out. He was interned at Hay Internment Camp in New South Wales, but was transferred to the Australian General Hospital, then to Gladesville Mental Home, where he died aged 67. His grave is in the Japanese Cemetery in Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
–Mayu Kanamori
More info:
Taka Takiguchi
Artist/s Statement:
Dear Mr Matsu Ouchi,
Welcome back to Hiroshima. In November 1901, at the age of 20, you travelled to Melbourne. You spent the first 15 years there until 1916, and then moved north taking two years, then eventually settling in Dunwich, where you lived for 23 years. You went by the name ‘Jack’ during that time and worked as a laundryman – surely a life of hard, relentless work for 40 years. In 1941, you were detained at Hay Internment Camp, along with many other civilians. Knowing the life and culture of Australia well, you may have been a source of support to many others. Or perhaps, after spending 40 years there, being labelled an ‘enemy alien’ broke your spirit. I’ve heard that in the end, you were sent to a psychiatric hospital in Sydney. It pains me deeply to think of it.
Turning around the path
No one follows
autumn grass waving
–Chizuko Shigeta
I chose this haiku written by my grandmother while thinking of your two year journey from Melbourne to Dunwich – Melbourne, Morwell, Casino, Lismore (the photo is from Lismore in 2023), Ballina, Brisbane, Nudgee, Brisbane again, and finally Dunwich. Documents say you were unmarried, so perhaps many of those trips were made alone. There must have been many times when you departed with no one to see you off. But now, Ouchi san, you have returned to a place where there is no need to look back.
Welcome back, indeed.
Sincerely, Taka Takiguchi
Artist Bio:
Taka Takiguchi (滝口貴) is an independent artist and producer of Japanese (Hiroshima) heritage related stories based in Naarm / Melbourne, Australia. His practice delves into personal stories, places, their historical contexts, and our presence within them today. He explores relational phenomena – between memory, time, and language – bringing them to life through poetry, scriptwriting, and movement based techniques, including the Suzuki Method, Butoh, and shamanic/trance dance. His late grandmother’s thousands of haiku and handwritten journals remain a constant source of inspiration for his passion for writing poetry.