In Remembrance: Akira Ifukube

     Akira Ifukube, the Japanese film composer who scored the ominous main theme for the Godzilla films as well as created the monster’s memorable roar, has passed away on February 1, 2006 in Tokyo, Japan. He was 91.

     Born on May 31, 1914 in Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan, Ifukube taught himself music as a teenager before attending and graduating from Hokkaido University. Ifukube worked as a Forestry Officer during World War II. After the war he served as a music instructor at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music until 1953. He started writing film scores for Japan’s Toho Studios in 1947 with the crime drama Snow Trail.

     Although he scored over 275 films, Ifukube was best known for his scores for the various science-fiction and giant monster films produced in Japan over the second half of the 20^th century.

     Ifukube often stated that the foreboding nature of his main theme to the classic giant monster movie Godzilla (1954) was influenced by classical European composers. His main theme would be reused in a majority of the nearly 30 Godzilla films produced. Ifukube also created Godzilla’s trademark roar by rubbing a contrabass with a resin-coated leather glove and then reverberating the resultant noise.

     Other genre classics that Ifukube wrote music for include Rodan (1956), The Mysterians (1957), Frankenstein Conquers The World (1965) and several installments of the Samurai series Zatoichi.

     In addition to his film work, Ifukube also composed several critically praised orchestral pieces. His “Nihon Kyoshikyoku” (“Japanese Rhapsody”) is considered his finest symphonic work.

     From 1976 to 1987, Ifukube served as the president of the Tokyo College of Music. He was awarded a Person of Cultural Merit, one of Japan’s highest honors, in 2003.