Toshi Ichiyanagi

was a Japanese avant-garde composer and pianist. One of the leading composers in Japan during the postwar era, Ichiyanagi worked in a range of genres, composing Western-style operas and orchestral and chamber works, as well as compositions using traditional Japanese instruments. He studied composition with Tomojirō Ikenouchi, Kishio Hirao, and John Cage. His decision to return to Japan, while Ono remained in New York, rendered the marriage untenable. Career Returning to Japan in 1960, Ichiyanagi collaborated with the anti-art collective Neo-Dada Organizers. Many of Ichiyanagi’s early scores use graphic notation: Sapporo (1963) is one of the better known examples. Another notable early work is the 1960 composition Kaiki, which combined Japanese instruments, shō and koto, and western instruments, harmonica and saxophone. Another work, Distance (1961), required the performers to play from a distance of three meters from their instruments. Anima 7 (1964) stated that chosen action should be performed “as slowly as possible”. In 1963, Ichiyanagi co-founded an avant-garde music collective called New Direction along with fellow composers Takehisa Kosugi, Yūji Takahashi, and Kenji Kobayashi