Witness to Wartime: The Painted Diary of Takuichi Fujii

Witness to Wartime: Takuichi Fujii introduces an artist whose work opens a window to historical events, issues, and ideas far greater than the individual. Takuichi Fujii (1891-1964) bore witness to his life in America and, most especially, to his experience during World War II.

Takuichi Fujii was fifty years old when war broke out between the United States and Japan. In a climate of increasing fear and propaganda, he became one of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast forced to leave their homes and live in geographically isolated incarceration camps.

Fujii began an illustrated diary that spans the years from his forced removal in May 1942 to the closing of Minidoka Relocation Center in October 1945. Fujii left a remarkably comprehensive visual record of this important time in American history, and offers a unique perspective on his generation.

This stunning body of work sheds light on events that most Americans did not experience, but whose lessons remain salient today.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Whether or not you go, The Hope of Another Spring: Takuichi Fujii, Artist and Wartime Witness is "the most remarkable document created by a Japanese American prisoner during the wartime incarceration." - Roger Daniels, HIstorian. 

Takuichi Fujii (1891–1964) left Japan in 1906 to make his home in Seattle, where he established a business, started a family, and began his artistic practice. When war broke out between the United States and Japan, he and his family were incarcerated along with the more than 100,000 ethnic Japanese located on the West Coast. Sent to detention camps at Puyallup, Washington, and then Minidoka in Idaho, Fujii documented his daily experiences in words and art. The Hope of Another Spring reveals the rare find of a large and heretofore unknown collection of art produced during World War II. The centerpiece of the collection is Fujii's illustrated diary.

Barbara Johns presents Takuichi Fujii's life story and his artistic achievements within the social and political context of the time. Sandy Kita, the artist's grandson, provides translations and an introduction to the diary. The Hope of Another Spring is a significant contribution to Asian American studies, American and regional history, and art history.

To add this book to your library, click here: The Hope of Another Spring: Takuichi Fujii, Artist and Wartime Witness