b'was brought into sharp relief when the artist reflected on his childhood intern-ment at Minidoka. Describing how Japanese Americans were herded like ani-mals into pens, Makuuchis writings mount a vigorous protest against their mass imprisonment, while alternately being respectful and critical of the stoic attitude, common among many of those interned who obdurately endured their manifestly unjust captivity. In a videotaped interview from the early nineties, Makuuchi re-marks on the problematic influence among the internees of a culturally reflexive mindset he characterized as the Samurai code of silence. 15Derived, in the artists view, from traditional Japanese values, this stoic mentality was distilled in often-repeated expressions such as damare and shikata ga nai, meaning to keep ones mouth shut and it cannot be helped or nothing can be done, in quietly submitting to a situation that cannot be altered.Makuuchis 1985 print, On Boys day I I.D. with Rocky Mountain Salmon . . . / . . . So wheres the Salmon? (fig. 1, p. 10) brings together doubled references and fish-related themes to strongly project a sense of dual or interstitial conscious-ness. The artists continual negotiation between his American and Japanese heritages is reinforced by the paired background images of Mount Rainier (visible from Seattle) and Japans Mount Fuji. With Rocky Mountain ranges rising in the distance, the Minidoka internment camp was located in the Snake River valley of Idaho, a conduit for salmon migrating to and from the distant Pacific Ocean. In this image, the immediacy and exhilarating dynamism of leaping wild sockeye salmon, which Makuuchi identifies with America, is juxtaposed with an inanimate Asian carp in the form of a dangling Koinobori, a flag-like paper or cloth streamer tethered to a standing pole, typical of Japanese Boys Day (now Childrens Day) FIGURE \x0c Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani, Untitled (Hiroshima), ca. 19902000. Ink and celebrations. colored pencil on paper, 22 x 28 inches. Collection of Wing Luke Museum, SeattleBorn in 1941 of mixed Japanese and European descent, Tom Nakashima was not interned and awkwardly recalls feeling, like an outsider in the presence of my Zoomorphic imagery is a central component in works by Makuuchi and Nakashima,Japanese family relatives . . . [as they recounted] stories of hardships and suffer-in which the Pacific salmon surfaces as a recurrent symbol with multipleing. 16The vexing descriptions of his relatives wartime incarceration contributed attributes: cultural icon, personal touchstone, self-sign, and allegorical andto the artists long-standing conviction that credulous, obedient acceptance of any mnemonic device. A theme derived from these Seattle-born artists early yearsinstitutions authority would necessarily ensnare individuals and groups brought in the Pacific Northwest, the life cycle of salmonwhich travels great distancesunder its sway.from fresh water to the sea until battling back upstream to spawnvariously provides an incarnation of freedom found in the natural world, an embodimentAs a cautionary note, Nakashimas 1992 painting Clouds, Fish, Stick and Cageof migratory movement, and a sentient signifier of strength, regeneration, and(fig. 53), brings together two of the artists central motifs: the fish as a self-sign endurance in confronting adversity.associated with Japanese ancestryoriginating in fond memories of salmon fish-ing trips with his Japanese American fatherand a cage-like crate derived from The gulf between Makuuchis American upbringing, as the only son of a Japanesethe shape of antique wooden chicken coops. In the artists scenario, a hesitant immigrant father, and an ethos he associated with Japanese heritage and valueslone fish afloat in a darkened space cautiously regards the beckoning enclosure, 134 135'