Snow Falling on Cedars
Characters in Snow Falling on Cedars
10 characters, main characters first.Main characters
Ishmael Chambers
Editor of San Piedro's newspaper and a WWII Marine veteran who lost an arm at the Battle of Tarawa; covers Kabuo's trial as a journalist.
Hatsue Miyamoto
Kabuo's wife, who grew up on San Piedro and was secretly involved with Ishmael Chambers as a teenager before the war.
Kabuo Miyamoto
A decorated veteran of the Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, charged with the murder of fisherman Carl Heine Jr.
Antagonists
Etta Heine
Carl Heine Sr.'s widow, whose refusal to complete a land sale to the Miyamoto family looms over the trial.
Alvin Hooks
The county prosecutor who argues that racial prejudice and a land grudge gave Kabuo Miyamoto a motive for murder.
Supporting characters
Art Moran
San Piedro's sheriff, who investigates Carl Heine Jr.'s death and testifies for the prosecution at trial.
Horace Whaley
The island's coroner, whose autopsy findings on Carl Heine Jr.'s body become central trial testimony.
Nels Gudmundsson
Kabuo Miyamoto's aging, one-eyed defense attorney, appointed to represent him at trial.
Carl Heine Jr.
A respected local fisherman whose drowning death aboard his own boat sets the murder trial in motion.
Ole Jurgensen
An elderly strawberry farmer whose sale of his land to Carl Heine Jr. instead of the Miyamotos figures into the land dispute.