Show summary Hide summary
After sweeping two awards at this year’s Japan Academy Film Prize, composer Hara is reflecting on how he built the music for KOKUHO, the sources that shaped his sound and what comes next for his career. In a conversation about craft and influence, he explains why this score feels like a personal statement—and why that matters for the future of Japanese film music.
Recognition and a quiet satisfaction
Winning for both Outstanding Achievement in Music and Theme Song has given Hara a formal seal of success, but his reaction is understated: the awards closed a chapter rather than defining one. More than trophies, he values that the music he wrote without compromise was embraced on a large stage.
KOKUHO marks culmination of Marihiko Hara’s artistic vision in Billboard Japan MONTHLY FEATURE
Debut novel not about Roy Price breakup amid scandal, Lila Raicek says
For Hara, the achievement confirmed an essential point: he did not reshuffle his aesthetic to please a wider audience. Instead, he scaled his existing voice to fit the film’s scope while keeping the work recognizably his.
Starting the score: long interest, careful preparation
Hara says the offer to score KOKUHO landed after he had already read the source novel and long before the project coalesced. His familiarity with kabuki was the product of years of attendance—sometimes monthly—rather than a hurried crash course when the job arrived.
That steady exposure, combined with early personal experiences—family ties to traditional instruments and school lessons in noh chanting—meant he approached the film from a place of lived curiosity rather than academic study.
Why the viola da gamba—and not a fuller traditional ensemble?
Contrary to expectations for a kabuki-centered film, Hara centered the soundtrack on the viola da gamba alongside sparse use of the shakuhachi, rather than layering multiple traditional Japanese instruments. His reasoning was cultural and dramaturgical: KOKUHO is not a direct depiction of kabuki performance but a portrait of a character’s life, so he wanted the protagonist’s interior world to sound distinct from stage music.
Hara traced the choice back to an artistic strategy: resonate with the spirit of the era when kabuki emerged (the early 1600s) by using a contemporaneous Western instrument rather than resorting to period Japanese textures. The viola da gamba offered a timbre that could bridge past and present without pastiche.
He describes building a low, processed register on the instrument—what he likened to a presence in the theater—that anchored his early demos and helped shape the film’s sonic identity.
Timbre first, melody later
Hara admits he often begins with sound color and atmosphere before finding a tune: timbre tends to arrive more instinctively than melody. For KOKUHO, that meant presenting Director Lee Sang‑il with a distinct sonic core early on and developing melodic material around it once the tonal palette felt right.
Lee encouraged a balance: the evocative textures gave the film its emotional frame, but a more conventional melodic thread was still needed to carry three hours of narrative.
The theme song, voice and collaborators
The film’s theme song, titled Luminance, emerged out of concentrated creative residencies in Kyoto. Hara worked in blocks of focused days, and by the third session the main motifs were in place. The idea of a theme song—requested later in the process—required a voice that could sit between breath and song.
Singer Satoru Iguchi was Hara’s built‑in choice; he had composed the piece with Iguchi’s timbre in mind and felt confident in that match. Lyricist Miu Sakamoto contributed minimal, evocative lines—words meant to act more like an instrument than a narrative device—and Hara had actively invited her to participate.
Hara and Miu Sakamoto’s collaboration came after a series of encounters following the death of her father, Ryuichi Sakamoto. Both musicians trace artistic lineages to Ryuichi’s work and their partnership grew into a close creative rapport.
- Core instrument: Viola da gamba used as a bridge between early-Western and contemporary sonorities.
- Traditional touch: Shakuhachi appears selectively, keeping stage music distinct from character themes.
- Vocal treatment: Theme song occupies a space between breath and melodic singing, with sparse lyrics.
- Collaborative thread: Contributions from Satoru Iguchi and Miu Sakamoto link generational influences to the score.
- Process: Intensive, residential composition sessions in Kyoto shaped the film’s musical architecture.
What this means for Japanese film music
Hara’s approach—prioritizing timbre and selective historical reference over straightforward traditional ornamentation—signals a modest but meaningful shift. It suggests a new way for composers to honor cultural origins without reproducing them verbatim, opening space for hybrid sound worlds that can travel internationally.
For audiences, the score reframes kabuki heritage as a living influence rather than a museum artifact: its presence in a contemporary film helps invite new listeners to explore both classical theater and early music traditions.
Looking forward
Hara plans to continue composing for cinema and hopes to collaborate with directors beyond Japan. He’s aiming to finish a new solo album this year—his first since 2020’s PASSION—and to increase his concert activity.
He also expressed interest in writing essays and exploring acoustic performances in non‑electrified spaces, suggesting a parallel curiosity about how environment shapes listening.
As Hara’s profile rises, his next moves—international film projects, a fresh album and live presentations—will be worth watching for anyone following contemporary intersections of traditional sound and modern scoring.
