Joe Hisaishi: Studio Ghibli’s Man of Music

Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi poses backstage with the Best Composer award for his work on "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" during the Asian Film Awards 2009 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong on March 23, 2009. Victor Fraile/Getty Images

Joe Hisaishi is a famed Japanese movie and independent composer. His music evolved from Japanese electronic music of the 70s into the symphonic and cinematic masterpieces he is internationally praised for.

He has composed for some of Japan’s most famous animated films, including “Princess Mononoke,” “Laputa: Castle in the Sky,” “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” and “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.”

Born Mamoru Fujisawa on Dec. 6, 1950, in Nakano City, Hisaishi started learning violin at age 4. He attended Kunitachi College of Music in 1969, where he majored in Music Composition. There, he found his roots as a minimalist artist engraving music for minimalist musicians.

During the 1970s, his music was heavily influenced by New Age, electronic, and Japanese pop music. It can be heard combined with his minimalist style in “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” (1984).

He released his first album, “MKWAJU,“ in 1981. His second, “Information,” came in 1982. That year, he adopted the stage name “Joe Hisaishi,” a Japanese variation of Quincy Jones, an esteemed American record producer and musician.

Hisaishi gained national renown in the early 80s for his music work on anime TV series and movies, including several Gundam films. But it was not until he partnered with a certain film director that he truly broke out.

Partnership with Miyazaki

In 1983, Hisaishi began working with Hayao Miyazaki, a film director with a few anime movies and shows under his belt. Miyazaki had been impressed with Hisaishi’s albums and invited him to work on a new movie.

That movie was “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind,” which birthed the Studio Ghibli animation company and a lifetime partnership between Miyazaki and Hisaishi.

In a relationship that echoes John Williams and Steven Spielberg, Hisaishi has composed for all of Miyazaki’s movies since.

Hisaishi’s compositions have won him seven Japanese Academy Awards for Best Music, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award Music Prize for his work on “Howl’s Moving Castle”(2004), a Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon from the Japanese government, a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Score in 2023, and a plethora of other awards and titles.

‘Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind’

Hisaishi’s first collaboration with Miyazaki was his most experimental. The music of “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” bears the influence of his early, electronic works most heavily.

Released in 1984, it’s the story of a princess in the far future, when the world is decaying and man struggles to survive as a toxic forest consumes the land. It’s a blend of advanced technology and primitive circumstances, and Hisaishi’s music captures it well.

The soundtrack features various synthesizers, the Indian sitar, orchestral music, and piano. The synths and sitar create the feeling of a world completely different from our own—an alien, poisonous environment.

The orchestral movements grasp the story’s emotions and carry them on wings. And the beautiful, melancholy piano theme signals tranquility, suggesting that, despite hardship, we will always persevere.

‘Laputa: Castle in the Sky’

“Laputa: Castle in the Sky” is a story of a young miner, Pazu, and a girl named Sheeta who has a mysterious stone. They need to find the mythical Castle in the Sky before Muska, an aristocrat with a powerful army, finds it first, and bends the world to his will with the lost technology of the Castle. Pazu and Sheeta recruit a boisterous, sky pirate crew ready to do anything for a chance at the treasure-filled halls.

The 1986 score is a fan favorite. Departing from the melancholy of his previous work, Hisaishi adopted a much more adventurous and comedic tone.

The movie boasts a beautiful score, utilizing chorus and orchestra to accent whimsical and serious moments, and electric music to accompany scenes that focus on technology, skyships, and robots. The flying pirate ships’ music has delightful percussion, synth accordion, and orchestral music.

One of Hisaishi’s most beloved works, “Carrying You,” came from the film. A vocalized version of the main theme, it’s an unforgettable piece that laments the loss of something beautiful, yet dangerous.

‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’

“Kiki’s Delivery Service” (1989) is the tale of a young witch who starts a delivery business in a new town. It’s about a girl maturing into a young adult.

The town in which Kiki stays is inspired by northern Europe and the Baltics. Miyazaki’s team visited the region, notably the historic Swedish city of Visby, for inspiration.

Hisaishi left the synth music out from this sound track and those that followed. Accordions and mandolins bring the setting to life. The refreshing, lively, and thematic music evokes the smell of fresh seafood with lemon on the shore of a picturesque city.

The score showed Hisaishi’s mastery of a more European style of music. The European influence can also be felt in later works, such as “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Porco Rosso” (1992).

‘Princess Mononoke’

In the hit movie “Princess Mononoke” (1997), an accursed prince tries to stop a war between spirits of the forest and man’s expanding industrialization. Taking place in a fantasy Japan during the Muromachi period (1336-1573), it’s Miyazaki’s darkest film, filled with heavy themes and violence.

Hisaishi does full justice to it. The music is at times dramatic and invigorating as well as sad and longing. The masterful main theme is majestic, beautiful, and somber, bringing a world of great forests and feuding kingdoms to life.

While still using a mostly Western-style orchestra, he gives the music a distinct Japanese flavor. The Japanese Taiko drum and other percussion instruments, especially during battle tracks, bring a unique intensity rarely heard in any film scores.

Other Projects

Hisaishi also has a long-lasting partnership with filmmaker Takeshi Kitano.

Many of Hisaishi’s Studio Ghibli soundtracks have separate, symphonic releases, with rewritten parts for a better listening-only experience.

Hisaishi has composed for 12 Ghibli films and counting, as well as many other Japanese, Chinese, and Korean TV series, movies, and video games. He also has turned out several classical albums.

He has over 4 million Spotify listeners, and he does live tours. In 2024, he sold out venues all over the United States, including New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

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