Shigeru Kayano (1926–2006)

This book is a moving account of the hardships endured by the Ainu, the indigenous people living in what is now called Hokkaido, but was long ago called Ainu Mosir.

The book starts with a lot of descriptions of traditional ainu objects, houses, festivals, taught to the author by his beloved grandmother. These first 40 or so pages are interesting but less striking than the rest of the book, an account of Shigeru Kayano's life from his first years at school, to his creation of an Ainu museum in the 1970s.
Interesting is the way the Pacific War/WW2 barely mentioned, other than a few pages at the end of which Mr. Kayano recalls how his greatest loss was to have been forced to burn his diary, at the end of the war. Maybe this is to show how much "barely living" was a war in itself, for these people "assimilated", or clearly speaking, almost turned into slaves by the mainland Japanese government.

A beautiful book about a courageous man and his fight for the survival of his nation.… (more)