Chapters 1–9

Twenty-one-year-old Hana Omiya, the protagonist of Uchida’s Picture Bride, is on the ship that is taking her from Japan to the California coast as this story begins. It is some time in November of 1917, and Hana has decided to leave her village of Oka for a new life in the United States. She is heading toward Taro Takeda, whom she has promised to marry although she has never met him. Taro lives in Oakland. Their marriage has been arranged through Taro’s uncle and Hana’s parents. Hana encouraged this union so she might escape the drudgeries of becoming a Japanese farmer’s wife. Taro is ten years older than Hana and allegedly the owner of a thriving business.

When Hana first hears of Taro Takeda, she imagines that a life as his wife might be less confining than her prospects...