Lone Heart Mountain (book)

Illustrated memoir of life at Heart Mountain by artist Estelle Ishigo , a white woman married to a Nisei .

After a brief prologue and introduction that introduces the author and her husband, Arthur Ishigo, Lone Heart Mountain tells the story of their exile from Los Angeles to Heart Mountain and their return after the war, in nine roughly chronological sections. The story begins with their roundup in Los Angeles and journey to the Pomona Assembly Center and covers life at Heart Mountain: the harsh weather, primitive living conditions, lack of privacy, and lines, along with inmate and War Relocation Authority adaptations ranging from talent shows to libraries and an art students group. Ishigo mostly covers life at Heart Mountain in a general manner, not focusing on her specific experience. However one section—that is unillustrated—briefly describes Arthur's difficult upbringing, while the last section is on their postwar return to Los Angeles and the Ishigos' subsequent residence in a government sponsored trailer park . Many of Ishigo's drawings and sketches—more than one per page—are scattered throughout the book, and document many aspects of the forced removal and incarceration at Heart Mountain and in postwar trailer parks. The book is dedicated to Arthur Shigeharu Ishigo, "My late husband with whom I shared my life at Lone Heart Mountain."

Estelle Ishigo (1899–1990), who was of Dutch, English, and French ancestry, accompanied her Nisei husband to Pomona and Heart Mountain and documented the wartime incarceration in dozens of drawings, sketches, and paintings. She kept a low profile after the war and was rediscovered when some of her paintings were used in the 1972 exhibition Months of Waiting, 1942–1945 , organized by the California Historical Society. Aided by the Hollywood Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), Ishigo's existing manuscript for Lone Heart Mountain was fashioned into a book and published. Amy Uno Ishii, president of the Hollywood Chapter, contributes a brief foreword to the book. In 1989, the Heart Mountain High School Class of 1947 republished the book. Steven Okazaki's Academy Award winning documentary film on Ishigo, Days of Waiting , was also based in part on the book.