







The Most Famous
Composers from Japan
Trending Composers from Japan This Week
The top 10 Composers from Japan trending on Wikipedia in the past 7 days, with a quick note on what drove the spike.
- #1

Mamoru Samuragochi
b. 1963
Trending in Japanese (#125) Wikipedia (1,478 views, on Apr 15).
- #2

Ryuichi Sakamoto
1952 - 2023
Trending in Japanese (#139) Wikipedia (1,448 views, on Apr 15).
Top 10 Japanese Composers
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Japanese Composers of all time. This list of famous Japanese Composers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Japanese Composers.
- #1

Ryuichi Sakamoto
1952 - 2023
HPI 71.0447 langsRyuichi Sakamoto is most famous for his work with Yellow Magic Orchestra and for his film scores for the films Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence...Read moreShow less
Ryuichi Sakamoto is most famous for his work with Yellow Magic Orchestra and for his film scores for the films Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and The Last Emperor.
- #2

Ichirou Mizuki
1948 - 2022
HPI 67.4895 langsJapanese singer, voice actor (1948-2022)
- #3

Toru Takemitsu
1930 - 1996
HPI 65.7738 langsJapanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory
- #4

Miki Matsubara
1959 - 2004
HPI 64.5327 langsJapanese singer-songwriter (1959-2004)
- #5

Toshi Ichiyanagi
1933 - 2022
HPI 61.4617 langsJapanese composer, pianist (1933-2022)
- #6

Nobuo Uematsu
b. 1959
HPI 60.1732 langsJapanese video game composer
- #7

Shunsuke Kikuchi
1931 - 2021
HPI 59.8718 langsJapanese composer
- #8

Koichi Sugiyama
1931 - 2021
HPI 59.8722 langsJapanese music composer
- #9

Keiko Abe
b. 1937
HPI 59.6722 langsJapanese composer and marimba player
- #10

Kenji Kawai
b. 1957
HPI 57.9724 langsJapanese composer
People by Birth Decade
Browse notable Japanese Composers grouped by birth decade. Each decade shows the top 10 by HPI; expand to see everyone.
1980s(1)
1970s(1)
1960s(9)
1950s(7)
1940s(1)
1920s(1)
1910s(2)
Overlapping Lives
Which Composers were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 9 most globally memorable Composers since 1700.
















