Joe Hisaishi

Joe Hisaishi is the professional name of Mamoru Fujisawa, born on 6 December 1950 in Nakano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. He studied composition at Kunitachi College of Music and began his recording career in the 1970s, initially working with minimalist and electronic ideas. His 1981 album MKWAJU is an early example of that interest, built around percussion, keyboards, and ensemble textures rather than conventional film-song writing. His decisive screen partnership began with Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984). Hisaishi wrote both the image album and the score, establishing musical motifs for the film before animation was completed. He subsequently scored nearly every Miyazaki feature for Studio Ghibli: Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo, and The Wind Rises. The childlike piano melody and orchestral writing for Totoro, the martial choral scale of Princess Mononoke, and the waltz-like “Merry-Go-Round of Life” from Howl’s Moving Castle are among his best-known pieces. He returned to Miyazaki’s cinema for The Boy and the Heron (2023), after Miyazaki came back from retirement. Hisaishi also formed a major collaboration with director Takeshi Kitano. Their films include A Scene at the Sea, Sonatine, Kids Return, Hana-bi, Kikujiro, Brother, Dolls, and Zatoichi. His score for Kikujiro supplied “Summer,” a spare piano-led piece that became widely recognizable beyond the film. For Kitano, Hisaishi often used restrained repetitions and small instrumental groups, a marked contrast to the expansive orchestral palettes associated with Ghibli. Beyond film, he has written concert music, released numerous solo and orchestral albums, and conducted his own work internationally. In 2008 he became musical director of the New Japan Philharmonic World Dream Orchestra, presenting programs that placed his film music alongside classical repertoire. He has also composed for other directors, including Nobuhiko Obayashi and Yasuo Furuhata, and created the score for the 2010 South Korean film The Housemaid, directed by Im Sang-soo. His awards include multiple Japan Academy Film Prizes for music, including honors connected to Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Departures. In 2024, he received the World Soundtrack Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award at Film Fest Ghent. His music is closely tied to specific cinematic images, yet its recurring melodies—often first stated simply on piano, then enlarged through strings, winds, percussion, or chorus—have made it central to concerts, recordings, and adaptations of Japanese film music around the world today.