was one of the last native 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 isolate ...

and a leading figure in the

Ainu Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East *Ainu languages, a family of languages **Ainu language of Hokkaido **Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands **Sakhalin Ainu la ...

ethnic movement in Japan.

Early life

Kayano was born in Nibutani village in Biratori, Hokkaidō, 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 wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985 ...

, 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. Material culture, Tangible folk art includes ob ...

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 The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paral ...

. 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. Shigeru Kayano was also known for leading the protest movement against the

Nibutani Dam is a dam on the Saru River in Hokkaidō, Japan, which stands at Nibutani in Biratori town, Saru District. Work on the dam began in 1990. It was completed in March 1997, despite objections from the local Ainu people. Controversy The buildin ...

. 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 ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous ci ...

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

Works

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

yukar ( ain, ユカㇻ) 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 general ...

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

References

Obituary in ''Asahi Shinbun-International Herald Tribune'' May 5, 2006Act for the Promotion of Ainu Culture & Dissemination of Knowledge Regarding Ainu Traditions (Hitchingham trans.)Kayano et al. v. Hokkaido Expropriation Committee: 'The Nibutani Dam Decision' (Levin trans.)
(1999). International Legal Materials, Vol. 38, p. 394, 1999. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kayano, Shigeru 1926 births 2006 deaths Japanese Ainu people Ainu politics Writers from Hokkaido Deaths from pneumonia in Japan Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Members of the House of Councillors (Japan) Social Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Politicians from Hokkaido