photo : Susumu Yoshida
Born in 1954 in Ibaraki, Motofumi moved to Tokyo with his family when he was six. He joined the choir and played guitar when in elementary school, flute and piano in high school and studied cello in university. His influences included Bach, Ravel and the playing of Glenn Gould. He began though, to have doubts about why he, as a Japanese, was playing Western music so started exploring his own culture. His influences expanded to include the shamisen and koto, Japanese archery, Noh Theatre and the aesthetic of Shinto shrine architecture and the Tea Ceremony. He also tired of the hustle and bustle of the big city and investigated the then quite prevalent phenomenon of living in a commune in the countryside. He heard about Kodo in its earliest incarnation on the radio. In 1979 he hopped on his bicycle and spent 3 months getting to Sado, taking part-time jobs on the way. After being accepted in the group he filled the vacancy of the recently departed Japanese flute (shinobue) player.
Now 16 years later as Artistic Director, he sees as one of his tasks the carrying over of the best aspects of Kodo in it's early stages to the current performances: to ensure that the flow of the show is pure, accurate, clean, and reflects the best elements of Japanese culture while exploring new horizons.
The creation of Kodo Village excites him as it ties his early communal 'Utopian' dreams with his musical interests.
When composing for Kodo he must take into consideration how the piece will look visually as much as how it will sound. Having seen many Taiko groups perform he suggests that they look to Noh rather than Kabuki for inspiration in their performing style. Noh explores maximum themes using minimal expression. The histrionics of Kabuki work for Kabuki because even in their gaudiness they have been refined over the years to eliminate all but the essential. Taiko groups haven't accomplished this yet so might do well to exercise more restraint and let the taiko speak for themselves. As well as principal flutist for Kodo, when time allows he gives several solo performances a year, and his duties also include composing. He recently scored the music for a Hollywood film 'The Hunted'. He remains open and looks forward to new challenges for his many interests and abilities.
