20 Facts About Hikaru Hayashi

Hikaru Hayashi was a Japanese composer, pianist and conductor.

In particular, Hikaru Hayashi was noted for his choral suite Scenes from Hiroshima.

In exploring the possibilities of Japanese language opera, Hikaru Hayashi composed more than 30 operas.

Hikaru Hayashi was artistic director and resident composer of the Opera Theatre Konnyakuza.

Hikaru Hayashi's oeuvre includes symphonic works, works for band, chamber music, choral works, songs and more than 100 film scores.

Hikaru Hayashi was the author of more than 20 books including Nihon opera no yume.

Hikaru Hayashi was born in Tokyo on October 22,1931.

Hikaru Hayashi was the cousin of renowned flautist Ririko Hayashi.

Hikaru Hayashi's father was a physician who had graduated from Keio University Medical School, and had studied in Berlin before returning to Japan to take up a position as a professor at Nihon University.

Hikaru Hayashi later entered Tokyo University of the Arts as a composition student but did not complete his studies.

In 1953, Hikaru Hayashi co-founded the "Goat Society" with other young composers such as Michio Mamiya and Yuzo Toyama.

From 1959 to 1960, Hikaru Hayashi participated in the Anpo protests against revision of the US-Japan Security Treaty alongside other young composers, artists, and writers as part of the "Young Japan Society".

Immediately following the protests, Hikaru Hayashi helped co-found the Seinen Geijutsu Gekijo, which was one of the earliest theatre troupes in the Angura movement of radical, "underground" avant-garde theatre.

For example, Hikaru Hayashi created "harrowing" scores for the Shindo-directed horror films Onibaba and Kuroneko by combining taiko drums with the sound of human screams.

Hikaru Hayashi collaborated with filmmaker Nagisa Oshima, scoring Oshima films such as Violence at Noon, Band of Ninja, and Death by Hanging.

Ultimately, Hikaru Hayashi would go on to craft scores for more than 100 films.

In 1975, Hikaru Hayashi was appointed artistic director and resident composer of the Opera Theatre Konnyakuza in Tokyo, a post he held until his death in 2012.

In September 2011, Hikaru Hayashi collapsed in front of his home, hitting his head.

Hikaru Hayashi was rushed to the hospital in an unresponsive state, where he received treatment for several months.

Hikaru Hayashi died on January 5,2012, at the age of 80.