Hidekichi "Sam" Komura (-1910)
A small grey headstone lays toward the back of the Orting Cemetery that marks the final resting place of Hidekichi "Sam" Komura. The name Hidekichi is Japanese in origin and combines the elements "hide," meaning "excellent" or "noble," and "kichi," meaning "luck" or "fortune". Though little is known about his life, newspaper accounts revealed the unfortunate circumstances surrounding his death at a wedding feast just outside Orting, Washington. On the evening of November 13, 1910, Komura attended the wedding of Fuji and Tada Tane at the home of Sokichi Sujitani. During the celebration, tensions erupted between Komura and fellow guest Toyoji Morimoto, a former business partner with whom he had once worked with on extracting shingle bolts for a lumber company. Reports suggested their dissolved partnership had left lingering animosity, intensified by the heavy consumption of sake that flowed freely throughout the...