The first Japanese composer to have achieved international acclaim, Toru Takemitsu spent his early childhood in Manchuria (1930-37), then under Japanese occupation, where his father worked. Upon the family’s return to Japan, Toru attended school until 1944, when, at 14 years of age, he was drafted to reinforce Japanese military bases in anticipation of an American invasion. The policies of Japanese rulers after 1868 had pivoted between an openness towards, and strict protectionism against, Western culture. Although the Second World War, unsurprisingly, saw the introduction of legislation banning Western, and specifically, American music, literature, etc., in the closing days of the war, Takemitsu came across a recording of the song “Parlez-moi d’amour” [Speak to Me of Love], which made a deep impression on him, and of which he would reminisce in the final days of his life. Apparently on this basis, he decided to become a musician, for the most part teaching himself, but occasionally receiving instruction from composer Yasuji Kiyose. Despite having informally studied the koto with his aunt as a young child, in his adolescence, Takemitsu was far more attracted to Western music, even going so far as to reject the musical traditions of his native land. “First of all, it could be said that Japan, at the beginning, existed for me only in a negative sense. At least when I came to
my decision to understand music (modern Western music) and to live by doing so, Japan was something that had to be rejected” (from the article, Mirrors; Perspectives of New Music, vol. 30, no. 1, p. 55).

Following the war, Takemitsu was able to familiarise himself with the works of Copland, Piston, Sessions and Messiaen (the latter of whom was to have a lasting influence) thanks to radio broadcasts of their music. Takemitsu, like his mother, also became an ardent admirer of Capra and other American directors. After composing his first significant work, Lento in due movimenti for piano, in 1950, Takemitsu, along with the surrealist poet Shuzo Takiguchi and other musicians, poets and visual artists, co-founded the Jikken Kobo [Experimental Workshop] Group; the collective remained active from 1951 to 1957.

Along with many other Japanese composers, Takemitsu became familiar with serial music, musique concrète and other forms of electronic music at the beginning of the 1950s. The creation of the NHK Studio in 1955 saw the appearence of the first works of electronic music by Japanese composers (Mayuzumi), with Takemitsu composing his first work for tape, Static Relief, in 1955. In the same year, he wrote music for radio and television, as well as his first film scores since Hokusai in 1952 (for which Takemitsu’s music was ultimately rejected in favour of a score by Yasuji Kiyose).

Meanwhile, Jikken Kobo was regularly curating events uniting music and image (Joji Yuasa), giving rise to Takemitsu’s works Uninterrupted Rest I (1952) for piano and Vocalism A.I. (1956) for pre-recorded voices articulating the word “ai“ [love] on tape. Takemitsu’s time with Jikken Kobo would have a lasting influence; after the group’s dissolution, the composer continued to frequently collaborate with artists working in other media (poetry, theatre, visual arts, and most notably, cinema). In 1954, he married actress Asaka Wakayama.

Following a visit to Japan by Stravinsky, who expressed admiration for Takemitsu’s Requiem for String Orchestra (1957), the composer started to gain international recognition. He was awarded numerous accolades in international contemporary music festivals, and although he was starting to become interested in classical Japanese culture after having become acquainted with the Bunraku puppet theatre tradition, Takemitsu continued to distance himself from the music of his homeland. It was through his discovery of the ideas of John Cage in the late 1950s, and a meeting between the two men in 1964 (in which Cage urged him to renew his ties with his own culture), that Takemitsu came to reconsider his position in this respect. Eclipse (1966) for biwa and shakuachi—the score of which is partially graphic, partially tablature—and November Steps (1967) for the same two instruments and orchestra mark Takemitsu’s first steps towards the reintegration of Japanese traditional music in his compositional aesthetic, a process that culminated in In an Autumn Garden (1973) for Gagaku orchestra.

The 1970s saw a flurry of creative activity and continued international recognition for the composer. He was named Director of the Space Theater at the Osaka World Exposition in 1970.

Throughout the 1980s, Takemitsu largely dedicated his creative efforts to continued work on the “Waterscape” (Rain Tree, Rain Spell, Rain coming, etc.) and “Dream” (Dreamtime, Dream/Window and Rain Dreaming) cycles. This period also marked a transition toward a more systematic use of consonance, culminating in Quotation of Dream (1991). The composer’s reconciliation with Japanese music has been formalised in the “sea of tonalities” concept, which is intended to serve as a musical aesthetic link between East and West.