Our History
Ushizuke Nakamashi landed at the port of Santos in the year 1915, where he spent some time working as a stevedore. As usual at the time, the wives of the Japanese immigrants came from their homeland and only knew their husbands by photograph. In this way, Shigue comes from Japan to marry Ushizuke Nakamashi.Around 1930, Ushizuke Nakamashi visits the Bay of Ilha Grande and realizes the great amount of sardine’s shoals and decides to explore the fishing and moves to the Ubatuba’s beach, soon after transferring to the Bananal’s beach in 1933 .When he arrived at the Bananal, this small community had as main economic activity the family farming. The fishing was occasional, done in canoe or in the coastal ones.
Ushizuke Nakamashi then became known as João Nakashima - it was common among Japanese immigrants to adopt a Brazilian name to facilitate communication - and his wife, became known as Maria Nakamashi.João starts his business, industrializing the sardines to sell to the Japanese colony in São Paulo city. The fish was deflated to be consumed in soups. After a while, the sardines become salted and canned. The family grows, the sardine factory is built and the children help at work. In 1972, João's eldest son
Iwao Nakamashi - continues the project and builds a new shed for the factory, with a modern machinery. At the end of this decade, the family finances are in serious crisis, and Iwao’s brother, Hirose, leaves his son Paulo taking care of his family in São Paulo city to help his brother at Bananal. Two years later Hirose goes to São Paulo and returns to Bananal with his son Kiyoshi Nakamashi - better known as Preto – to help the family in Bananal.Preto still works on sardines, but in the mid-1980s, fishery became unfeasible due to strict inspection, a decrease in the supply of fish, competition from other regions of the country and new environmental laws. In 1987, the Nakamashi's, pioneers in sardine exploration on Ilha Grande, close the doors.In the 1990s, Preto and his wife, Noriko, started receiving visitors from São Paulo through friends and relatives in the facilities of the old factory. Friends of cousins, friends of friends of friends - the old sardine factory begins to transform.Old salty tanks have seen rooms, beds are made from bamboo. The Preto's Hotel appears. A great meeting place for young people who ventured into a destination that has not yet been explored. Even in those trips, many couples met and are now married. And still attend the place responsible for the beginning of the novel.Over the years, the facilities have been perfected for the comfort of its guests and is now one of the most welcoming inns in the whole of Ilha Grande.
