was a Japanese politician and a leading figure in the Ainu ethnic movement in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. He was one of the last speakers of the

Ainu language Ainu (, ), or more precisely Hokkaido Ainu (), is a language spoken by a few elderly members of the Ainu people on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. It is a member of the Ainu language family, itself considered a language family isola ...

Early life

Kayano was born in Nibutani village in Biratori, Hokkaido, Japan. His family name at birth was Kaizawa, but he was adopted out by name to his aunt's family. He was raised in poverty by his alcoholic father and devout Buddhist mother, and gained his first appreciation of Ainu culture from his grandmother, Tekatte, who would share traditional stories in Ainu with him.

Cultural leader

Though he did not reach a high level of formal education, he undertook an impassioned study of Ainu folklore, art, language and history. His activism helped bring about the founding of the Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum in 1972. He was an acknowledged living master of the Ainu

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...

, an expert in its

folk arts Folk and traditional arts are rooted in and reflective of the cultural life of a community. They encompass the body of expressive culture associated with the fields of folklore and cultural heritage. Tangible folk art includes objects which hi ...

and language. He led the effort to found 15 Ainu language schools.

Political leader

He was the first Ainu politician to sit in the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

. He served five terms in the assembly before taking over a vacated seat in the upper house for the SDP. There he served from 1994 to 1998. In the Diet, he often posed questions in the Ainu language. His effort led to the enactment of a law to promote Ainu culture in 1997. Kayano Shigeru was also known for leading the protest movement against the Nibutani Dam. The dam over the Saru River, completed in 1997 despite legal attempts to stop it, flooded land sacred to the Ainu. Though unsuccessful, the legal effort did result in a ruling by the Sapporo District Court, acknowledging the Ainu as the indigenous people of Hokkaidō for the first time. He also succeeded in his quest for abolition of The Protective Act for the Ainus in Hokkaido () and enacting the Act for the Promotion of Ainu Culture & Dissemination of Knowledge Regarding Ainu TraditionsAct for the Promotion of Ainu Culture & Dissemination of Knowledge Regarding Ainu Traditions
/ref> in 1997. He died of pneumonia at a hospital in

Sapporo is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in Hokkaido, Japan. Located in the southwest of Hokkaido, it lies within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary of the Ishikari River. Sapporo is the capital ...

, Hokkaidō on May 6, 2006, just over a month short of his 80th birthday.

Works

Kayano Shigeru has written about 100 books about the Ainu language and culture, including 28

yukar () are Ainu sagas that form a long rich tradition of oral literature. In older periods, the epics were performed by both men and women; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, when Ainu culture was in decline, women were generally the most sk ...

collections. Some of his works were translated into English: * ''The Ainu and the Fox'' – 2006 * ''The Ainu: A Story of Japan's Original People'' – 2004 * ''Our Land was a Forest: an Ainu Memoir'' – 1994 * ''Yukar, the Ainu Epic and Folktales'' – 1988 * ''The Romance of the Bear God'' – 1985

Early life

Cultural leader

Political leader

Works

References

Further reading