Koichi Sugiyama
すぎやま こういち
Sugiyama in 2011
Born	椙山 浩一 (1931-04-11)April 11, 1931 Tokyo, Japan
Died	September 30, 2021(2021-09-30) (aged 90) Tokyo, Japan
Alma mater	University of Tokyo
Occupations	Composer conductor orchestrator
Employers	Nippon Cultural Broadcasting (1956–1958) Fuji Television (1958–1965)
Musical career
Genres	Classical symphonic video game jazz kayōkyoku
Years active	1968–2021
Labels	SUGI Label
Website	Sugimania
Musical artist

Koichi Sugiyama (すぎやま こういち,Sugiyama Kōichi; April 11, 1931 – September 30, 2021) was a Japanesecomposer,conductor, andorchestrator. He was best known for composing for theDragon Quest franchise, along with several othervideo games,anime, film, television shows, andpop songs. Classically trained, Sugiyama was considered a major inspiration for other Japanese game music composers and was active from the 1960s until his death in 2021.

Sugiyama was also a council member of theJapanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers, and Publishers (JASRAC), board member of theJapan Institute for National Fundamentals, and honorary chairman of the JapaneseBackgammon Society. Prior to his death, the Japanese government honored him withOrder of the Rising Sun and named him aPerson of Cultural Merit. Sugiyama was also active in politics and activism, promoting ideas such asJapanese nationalism while denyingJapanese war crimes.

Sugiyama was born inTokyo, Japan, on April 11, 1931.^[1] While growing up, Sugiyama's home was filled with music, which ultimately inspired his passion. In high school, he began to write various small musical works.^[2] He attended theUniversity of Tokyo and graduated with full honors in 1956. He then went into the reporting and entertainment sections ofNippon Cultural Broadcasting.^[2] He joinedFuji TV as a director in 1958.^[2] He left the station in 1965 to become a freelance director but had begun concentrating solely on musical composition and orchestration by 1968.^[2]

From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, Sugiyama composed for several musicals,commercials,kayōkyoku pop artists,animated movies, and television shows, such asScience Ninja Team Gatchaman: The Movie,The Sea Prince and the Fire Child, andCyborg 009. He also assistedRiichiro Manabe with the composition forGodzilla vs. Hedorah, composing the record single of the soundtrack and conducting for some of the tracks.^[3] Sugiyama also wrote the 1976 singleHeart Dorobō for the Japanese pop trioCandies.

In a little known foray for Matsushita Electric, Sugiyama composed, arranged & conducted a track called Disco Check, for the fourth volume of Technics '80 Audio Inspection records,^[4] performed with 24 instruments by the Nova Studio Group. With these records not being for sale, this astonishing & innovative piece has probably rarely been heard outside the Technics dealers they were intended for, though copies do sometimes turn up second hand online.

Sugiyama's first contact withEnix was by a fan letter he wrote them regarding a PCshogi game in the early 1980s. After Enix's staff overcame the shock of receiving a handwritten postcard from a celebrity of Sugiyama's stature, they were so impressed by his depth of knowledge and appreciation of games that they decided to ask Sugiyama to create music for their games. Sugiyama started composing for thePC-8801, and was working forEnix at the time. His first project with the company was the 1986 gameWing-Man 2: Kītakurā no Fukkatsu. Later that year, he composed for his first major project,Dragon Quest.^[5] His classical score for the game was considered revolutionary forconsolevideo game music.^[6]

Sugiyama was one of the first video game composers to record with a live orchestra.^[7] In 1986, the CD,Dragon Quest Suite, was released, utilizing the Tokyo Strings Ensemble to interpret Sugiyama's melodies. The soundtrack's eight melodies (Opening, Castle, Town, Field, Dungeon, Battle, Final Battle, and Ending) set the template for mostrole-playing video game soundtracks released since then, many of which have been organized in a similar manner.^[8]

In 1987, he composed forDragon Quest II. Music from the first twoDragon Quest games was performed at one of the first game music concerts, "Family Classic Concert". It was arranged and conducted by Sugiyama himself and was performed by the Tokyo Strings Ensemble on August 20, 1987, atSuntory Hall in Tokyo. "Dragon Quest I Symphonic Suite" and "Dragon Quest II Symphonic Suite" were performed.^[9] He subsequently held the "Family Classic Concerts" annually in Japan until 2019.^[10]

From 1987 to 1990, Sugiyama continued to compose for various other Enix games. In 1991, he introduced a series of video game music concerts, five in all, called the Orchestral Game Concerts, which were performed by the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.^[11] The performances included music from over eighteen different video game composers, such asKoji Kondo,Yoko Kanno,Nobuo Uematsu,Keiichi Suzuki, as well as Sugiyama himself. These concerts were held from 1991 to 1996; during this time, Sugiyama composed for other video games and arranged for some of them to be performed in the Orchestral Game Concerts. He served as a sound producer on 1991'sMaster of Monsters, composed byHayato Matsuo.

In September 1995, Sugiyama composed theDragon Quest Ballet. It premiered in 1996, and has since been performed regularly over the years by the Star Dancers Ballet.^[12] During those years, he also released severalDragon Quest Symphonic Suites. In late 2004, he finished and released theDragon Quest VIII soundtrack. In 2005, Sugiyama was holding a series of concerts in Japan with theTokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra with music fromDragon Quest VIII, as well as his classic compositions from the past.^[13] In August 2005, his music fromDragon Quest was performed live at the EuropeanSymphonic Game Music Concert, marking the first time that his music was performed by a live symphonic concert outside of Japan.^[14] Sugiyama later composed the score toDragon Quest X andXI.^[15][16] A television drama played by actorKen Yasuda detailing Sugiyama's involvement withDragon Quest aired onNippon TV on August 27, 2022.^[17]

Throughout his work Sugiyama repeatedly usedmotifs to maintain a consistency and nostalgic quality in the different installments. Each of theDragon Quest games that he worked on included a nearly identical, upbeat theme track titled "Overture". Sugiyama composed more than 500 pieces of music in the 35 years he was involved in theDragon Quest franchise.^[18] Sugiyama's style of composition has been compared to lateBaroque and earlyClassical period styles.^[19] Earlier on in his career, Sugiyama said that his process for making music for games was based on seeing initial drafts on its setting and story.^[20]

Sugiyama's relatedhobbies included photography, traveling, building model ships, collecting old cameras, andreading.^[21] He has opened a camera section on his website,^[22] and also founded his own record label, SUGI Label, in June 2004.^[23] Sugiyama also composed the fanfares for the opening and closing of the gates at theTokyo andNakayama Racecourses. He was given theOrder of the Rising Sun,4th Class, by the Japanese government in 2018 before also being named aPerson of Cultural Merit by them two years later.^[24][25] Sugiyama died fromseptic shock at the age of 90 on September 30, 2021.^[26]

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Sugiyama engaged inNanjing Massacre denial, stating that the facts regarding it were "selective" in nature. He was one of the signatories on "The Facts", a full-page ad published byThe Washington Post on June 14, 2007, that was written by a number of Japanese politicians and academics in response to the passing ofUnited States House of Representatives House Resolution 121, which sought an official apology from theGovernment of Japan regarding their involvement of usingcomfort women, sexual slaves used by Japanese soldiers duringWorld War II.^[27][28][29] Sugiyama was also a board member of theJapan Institute for National Fundamentals.^[30]

In 2012, Sugiyama wrote an editorial saying that he thought Japan was in a state of "civil war between Japanese and anti-Japanese". Giving examples, he argued that the Japanese media portrayed acts of patriotism negatively, such as performing theNational Anthem of Japan or raising theJapanese flag. He further thought that the demands of the Japaneseanti-nuclear movement to immediately dismantle all nuclear energy facilities without offering any alternative solutions would affect the country's ability to defend itself.^[31]

In 2015, Sugiyama made an appearance on theJapanese Culture Channel Sakura television programHi Izuru Kuni Yori where he was shown agreeing with views shared by Japanese politicianMio Sugita who said there was no need forLGBT education in Japanese schools, as well as dismissing concerns about high suicide rates among the community. Sugiyama added that the lack of children born from LGBT couples was an important topic to discuss, also suggesting that Japan was more empowering to women thanSouth Korea.^[32][33] He later made a statement seemingly indicating greater acceptance by saying that LGBT couples have existed throughout human history and he supported the use of governments to occasionally help them.^[34]

Works primarily featuring re-used compositions are omitted.

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