MACHIKO SAKURAI MURATSUCHI 92 years old, passed away peacefully in her sleep on July 4, 2019. Born in Gujo-Hachiman, Gifu, Japan on September 22, 1926, she grew up in Gifu and Nagoya and experienced the hardships of economic depression and survived the terrors of the bombings and fiery destruction of Nagoya in WWII. After the War, she studied tea ceremony, flower arranging, cooking and sewing as typical preparation for a Japanese marriage. However, at age 20, she married Joseph Muratsuchi, a Japanese-American born in Idaho, and his work eventually brought her and their children to Hawaii in 1959. Here, she worked as a cutter for two muumuu factories, Nali’i Fashions for 25 years and Jacqueline’s of Hawaii for 5 years. She retired at the age of 62 and started her new life as an avid reader, traveler, and artist. After trying washi doll-making, t-shirt art, quilting, ceramics, etc., she focused on Taisho Koto, sumi-e painting, china painting and writing tanka poetry as a member of Hawaii Tanka Kai. Machiko’s husband Joseph, son James (Peggy Jo) and brother Akio Sakurai preceded her in death. She is survived by daughter Irene Sadoyama (Wayne) and 5 grandchildren: Jared and Jordan Muratsuchi, Micah and Jonathan Sadoyama and Misa Higa, and 6 great-grandchildren. Service 5:00pm Monday, July 22, 2019 at Diamond Head Mortuary, visitation begins at 4:30pm.
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