Though he did not reach a high level of formal education,[citation needed] he undertook an impassioned study of Ainu folklore, art, language and history.

He was an acknowledged living master of the Ainu oral tradition, an expert in its folk arts and language.

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.

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