Akira Ifukube 伊福部 昭
Ifukube in 1954
Background information
Born	(1914-05-31)31 May 1914[1] Kushiro, Hokkaido,Empire of Japan[1]
Died	8 February 2006(2006-02-08) (aged 91) Tokyo,Japan
Genres	Classical, film scores
Occupation(s)	Musician,composer, educator
Years active	1935-2006
Spouse	Ai Yuzaki
Website	akiraifukube.org

Akira Ifukube (伊福部 昭,Ifukube Akira; 31 May 1914 – 8 February 2006) was a Japanese composer. He is best known for composing several entries in theGodzilla franchise as well as developing thetitular monster's roar.

Akira Ifukube was born on 31 May 1914, inKushiro,^[1] Japan as the third son of a police officer Toshimitsu Ifukube. The origins of this family can be traced back to at least the 7th century with the birth of Ifukibe-no-Tokotarihime. He was strongly influenced by theAinu music as he spent his childhood (from age of 9 to 12) inOtofuke nearObihiro, where was with a mixed population ofAinu and Japanese. His first encounter with classical music occurred when attending secondary school inSapporo city. Ifukube decided to become a composer at the age of 14 after hearing a radio performance ofIgor Stravinsky'sThe Rite of Spring, and also cited the music ofManuel de Falla as a major influence.

Ifukube studiedforestry atHokkaido Imperial University inSapporo and composed in his spare time, which prefigured a line of self-taught Japanese composers. His first piece was thepiano solo,Piano Suite (later the title was changed toJapan Suite, arranged for orchestra), dedicated toGeorge Copeland who was living inSpain. Atsushi Miura, Ifukube's friend at the university, sent a letter to Copeland. Copeland replied, "It is wonderful that you listen my disc in spite of you living in Japan, the opposite side of the earth. I imagine you may compose music. Send me some piano pieces." Then Miura, who was not a composer, presented Ifukube and this piece to Copeland. Copeland promised to interpret it, but the correspondence was unfortunately stopped because of theSpanish Civil War. Ifukube's big break came in 1935, when his first orchestral pieceJapanese Rhapsody won the first prize in a competition for Japanese composers promoted byAlexander Tcherepnin. The judges of that contest—Albert Roussel,Jacques Ibert,Arthur Honegger,Alexandre Tansman,Tibor Harsányi,Pierre-Octave Ferroud, and Henri Gil-Marchex were unanimous in their selection of Ifukube as the winner.^[2] Ifukube studied modern Western composition while Tcherepnin was visiting Japan, and hisPiano Suite received an honourable mention at the I.C.S.M. festival in Venice in 1938.Japanese Rhapsody was performed in Europe on a number of occasions in the late 1930s.

On completing University, he worked as aforestry officer andlumber processor inAkkeshi, and towards the end of the Second World War was appointed by theImperial Japanese Army to study theelasticity andvibratory strength of wood. He sufferedradiation exposure after carrying outx-rays without protection, a consequence of the wartimelead shortage. Thus, he had to abandon forestry work and became a professional composer and teacher. Ifukube spent some time in hospital due to the radiation exposure, and was startled one day to hear one of his own marches being played over the radio when GeneralDouglas MacArthur arrived to formalize the Japanese surrender.^{[citation needed]}

He taught at theTokyo University of the Arts (formerly Tokyo Music School), during which period he composed his firstfilm score forSnow Trail, released in 1947. Over the next fifty years, he would compose more than 250 film scores, the high point of which was his 1954 music forIshirō Honda'sToho movie,Godzilla. Ifukube also createdGodzilla's trademark roar – produced by rubbing a resin-coveredleather glove along the loosened strings of adouble bass – and its footsteps, created by striking anamplifier box.

Despite his financial success as a film composer, Ifukube's first love had always been his general classical work as a composer. In fact his compositions for the two genres cross-fertilized each other. For example, he was to recycle his 1953 music for the balletShaka, about how the youngSiddhartha Gautama eventually became theBuddha, forKenji Misumi's 1961 filmBuddha. Then in 1988 he reworked the film music to create his three-movement symphonic odeGotama the Buddha. Meanwhile, he had returned to teaching at theTokyo College of Music, becoming president of the college the following year, and in 1987 retired to become head of the College'sethnomusicology department.

He trained younger generation composers such asToshiro Mayuzumi,Yasushi Akutagawa,Akio Yashiro,Teizo Matsumura,Sei Ikeno,Minoru Miki,Maki Ishii,Riichirō Manabe, Hajime Okumura, Reiko Arima, Taichiro Kosugi,Kaoru Wada, Motoji Ishimaru, Shigeyuki Imai, and Satoshi Imai. See:List of music students by teacher: G to J#Akira Ifukube. He also publishedOrchestration, a 1,000-page book on theory, widely used among Japanese composers.

He died in Tokyo at Meguro-ku Hospital ofmultiple organ dysfunction on 8 February in 2006, at the age of 91 and buried at theUbe shrine inTottori.

The Japanese government awarded Ifukube theOrder of Culture. Subsequently, he was awarded theOrder of the Sacred Treasure, Third Class.^[3]

On May 31, 2021,Google celebrated the 107th anniversary of his birth with aGoogle Doodle.^[4]

• Japanese Rhapsody (1935)
• Triptyque Aborigène: trois tableaux pour orchestre de chambre (1937); dedicated toAlexander Tcherepnin.
• Ballet symphonique après Etenraku (1940)
• Symphony Concertante for piano and orchestra (1941)
• Ballata Sinfonica (1943)
• Overture to the Nation of Philippines (1944)
• Arctic Forest (1944)
• Rapsodia Concertante for violin and orchestra (Violin Concerto No. 1) (1948, revised 1951/59/71)
• Salome, ballet (1948, score revised and expanded 1987 for Suite)^[5] based onOscar Wilde'splay
• Fire of Prometheus, ballet (1950)
• Drumming of Japan, ballet (1951, revised 1984)
• Sinfonia Tapkaara (1954, revised 1979)
• Ritmica Ostinata for piano and orchestra (1961, revised 1971)
• Ronde in Burlesque for wind orchestra (1972, arranged to orchestra in 1983)^[5]
• Violin Concerto No. 2 (1978)
• Lauda concertata for marimba and orchestra (1979)
• Eglogue symphonique for 20-stringskoto and orchestra (1982)
• Symphonic Fantasia No. 1 (1983); arrangement from the film scores
• Symphonic Fantasia No. 2 (1983); arrangement from the film scores
• Symphonic Fantasia No. 3 (1983); arrangement from the film scores
• Gotama the Buddha, symphonic ode for mixed chorus and orchestra (1989)
• Japanese Suite for orchestra (1991); arrangement from the piano suite
• Japanese Suite for string orchestra (1998); arrangement from the piano suite

• Piano Suite (1933)
• Toka: Cantilena ballabile sul mode antico de Giappone, for guitar (1967)
• Kugoka for guitar (1969)
• Toccata for guitar (1970)
• Fantasia for baroquelute (1980)
• Sonata for violin and piano (1985)
• Ballata sinfonica for duo-treble and bass 25-stringed koto (2001)

• Ancient Minstrelsies of Gilyak Tribes, for soprano and piano (1946)
• Three Lullabies among the Native Tribes on the Island of Sakhalin, for soprano and piano (1949)
• Eclogues after Epos among Aino Races, for soprano and timpani (1950)
• A Shanty of the Shiretoko Peninsula (1961)
• The Sea of Okhotsk for soprano, bassoon, piano (or harp) and double bass (1988)
• Tomo no oto for traditional ensemble and orchestra (1990)
• Lake Kimtaankamuito (Lake Mashū) (摩周湖,Mashū-ko) for soprano, viola and harp or piano (1992)
• Five Poems after Inaba Manyo (1994); text byŌtomo no Yakamochi
• La Fontaine sacrée for soprano, viola, bassoon and harp (1964, 2000); arrangement by the composer from the 1964 film scoreMothra vs. Godzilla
• Ao Saghi (Grey heron) for soprano, oboe, double bass and piano (2000); text by Genzō Sarashina

Ifukube obtained theMedal with Purple Ribbon in 1980, the3rd class Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1987, and was honoured as aPerson of Cultural Merit in 2003.^[7]

• Ryfle, Steve (1998).Japan's Favorite Mon-star: The Unauthorized Biography of "The Big G". ECW Press.ISBN 9781550223484.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAkira Ifukube.

Wikiquote has quotations related toAkira Ifukube.

• Official website (archived version)
• Akira Ifukube atIMDb
• A guide to Ifukube's concert music on CD
• Information about his death in JapaneseArchived 17 February 2007 at theWayback Machine
• AKIRAIFUKUBE.ORG:A virtual museum dedicated to Akira Ifukube
• Larson, Randall D."Voice of Gojira: Remembering Akira Ifukube". Archived fromthe original on 18 April 2008. Retrieved22 May 2006. atmusicfromthemovies.com
• Milner, David. Yohihiko Shibata (trans.) December 1992 & December 1993."The Complete Akira Ifukube Interview",Kaiju Fan Online.
• Watch the documentaryThe Man Who Created Monsters with Sound: Godzilla vs Akira Ifukube (2014) (Japanese with English subtitles)

• 1914 births
• 2006 deaths
• 20th-century Japanese classical composers
• 20th-century Japanese male musicians
• Deaths from multiple organ failure
• Hokkaido University alumni
• Japanese film score composers
• Japanese male classical composers
• Japanese male film score composers
• Japanese Shintoists
• La-La Land Records artists
• Musicians from Hokkaido
• People from Kushiro
• Recipients of the Order of Culture
• Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure
• Persons of Cultural Merit

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