Book Highlight — The Hope of Another Spring: Takuichi Fujii, Artist and Wartime Witness

Book Highlight

The Hope of Another Spring: Takuichi Fujii, Artist and Wartime Witness

By Barbara Johns

At fifteen years old, Issei Takuichi Fujii left Japan in 1906 aboard a vessel set sail for Seattle, Washington, where his father and brother found jobs. He later worked as a fish merchant in Seattle’s Nihonmachi, eventually marrying Fusano Marumachi. In 1930, he won an award for the best oil paining at an exhibition. Fujii continued working with Seattle’s community of Japanese artists until moving to Chicago for two brief years before returning to Seatle. 

After Executive Order 9066, the Fujii family was removed from their home to Puyallup detention center and were later incarcerated at Minidoka concentration camp. In May 1942, while still incarcerated at Puyallup, Fujii started an illustrated diary detailing his experiences. By the time he left Minidoka, the diary reached 400 pages, most accompanied with a short caption. 

The rare illustrations depict life at Puyallup detention center and Minidoka concentration camp with authenticity. In the first five chapters of The Hope of Another Spring, author Barbara Johns explores Takuichi Fujii’s life, his artwork, and Seattle’s Japanese American pre-war art community. Fujii’s grandson, Sandy Kita translates the captions and provides an introduction to the rest of the book, a partial reproduction of Fujii’s diary. 

The Hope of Another Spring offers an insight into the experience of incarceration through the lens of an Issei artist, often not discussed or analyzed by historians due to the lack of records available in English about the Issei experience in the United States from the Issei themselves.

This video from the Missoula Art Museum provides more information about Fujii’s artwork and life. 

Purchase The Hope of Another Spring in the Friends of Minidoka online bookstore here.