Introduction

Some years before he passed away, Toru Takemitsu wrote:

“I must thank John Cage, because he shifted my attention to the positive sides of Japanese culture; I had long regarded ‘Japan’ and anything related to it as things that are supposed to be rejected.”1

There might be several strong reasons why this quote is convincing to anyone who is reading it about how John Cage’s influence on Japanese music in the post-WWII. First, Takemitsu is one of the most prominent composers of the time from Japan which adds credibility by itself. Second, in 1950, Cage attended some lectures by Daisetsu Suzuki on the Japanese philosophical concept of Zen and started incorporating some of the ideas from Zen into some of his music2. Finally, Cage and David Tudor visited Japan in 1962 leaving a strong impression on the composers, musicians, artists, and general public in Japan. However, long before Cage, composers in the West have been fascinated by Japan: many Western artists and composers in the late 1800s adopt Japanese art and story into their works as “exotic” elements as the result of pursuing their new artistic output. This movement is often called Japonisme, in which artists found attraction in the mysterious Japanese art scenes after opening their doors to foreign countries for the first time in 200 years. This led me to have a certain doubt about Takemitsu’s comment about the influence he had from Cage that this is another kind of cultural appropriation that Cage was doing through the idea of Zen Buddhism he learned and incorporated into his experimental activities in music as “otherness” which caused the redefinition of what Japanese music is to composers in Japan, such as Takemitsu, after the war.

One thing that was clear to me is that there were complicated attitudes and chains of the network between composers, artists, and musicians in Japan and the U.S. to make the musical interaction happen between the two countries since it was an unstable time politically and economically in Japan after the war for obvious reasons with Japan losing the war. By utilizing some of the methodologies of actor-network theory,3 I would like to draw the connections in the cultural interactions and influences between Cage and Japanese experimentalists after WWII to arrive at my hypothesis that the Japanese experimental music scene was not entirely guided by the Western influence largely credited to Cage, but rather, there was a distinct movement of avant-garde music happening in Japan through the networks indirectly to Cage and other western composers. Having Cage’s first visit to Japan in 1962 at the center of discussion, this paper aims to examine the Japanese music scene prior to and after Cage’s arrival through the network of Japanese experimentalists focusing on some of the important figures, such as Toshi Ichiyanagi, Yoko Ono, Toru Takemitsu, and Toshiro Mayuzumi in a relation to Cage and his influence.

Prior to Cage’s Arrival in Japan

After the official announcement of the surrender of Japan by the emperor in August 1945, there was strong opposition and hesitation in the artistic activities in Japan that would be associated with nationalism. At the same time, music from allied countries became available to Japanese people after the war. Takemitsu wrote that he frequently visited the library of the Civil Information and Education branch of the U.S. Occupation government to listen to American music and music from major composers at that time, such as Aaron Copland, Walter Piston, and Roy Harris.4 Another key element that was a major part of the music scene in Japan in the post-war period is the political situation over the renewal of the U.S. Japan Security Treaty (the “Nichibei Anzenhosho Joyaku” or “Anpo” for short).5 The Anpo Movement refers to the large-scale protests and riots against the renewal of the Treaty which included giving the right to the U.S. to station their bases in Japan. At the same time, there was another political movement was prominent in Japan alongside the Anpo Movement. The Utagoe (“Singing Voice”) movement brought together workers and students in choral activities singing revolutionary songs to promote the political and social education of the working classes.6 Moreover, these riots joined by artists and musicians led the Diet to issue the new Police Bill to strengthen the authorization of the police department for better control of these riots. Despite the unstable and chaotic political situation in Japan after the war, this period gave artists more freedom for their artistic outputs and made them realize that anarchy is conducive to creativity. Although there was a big hesitation in going back to the past in artistic expression, this freedom of the artists and their activities formed a new type of nationalistic movement that blooms in the experimental music world in Japan.

Meanwhile, artists and musicians who gained freedom from the government and the war began to form a group. Shuzo Takiguchi was a prominent poet, critic, and advocate of surrealism in Japan. With a contemporary painter, Jiro Yoshimasa, he founded the Japan Avant-Garde Artists Club in 1947 which became one of the first avant-garde collectives, which mainly consisted of contemporary painters who sought some experimentation from the norm of expression. This group was joined later by some musicians. One of the founders Takiguchi also founded the Gikken Kobo (Experimental Workshop) in 1951 with several young artists and musicians. Gikken Kobo brought together artists from different disciplines to collaborate on multimedia projects with members like Takemitsu, Hiroyoshi Suzuki, engineer Hideo Yamazaki, painter Hideko Fukushima, composer Joji Yuasa, and critic/poet Kuniharu Akiyama.7 Yuasa made a remark about Gikken Kobo;

“In liberating music from its own world, we were reacting against the academic conventions, systems, and the establishment.”8

The other founder of the Japan Avant-Garde Artists Club, Yoshimasa went back to his hometown Osaka to start the Gutai group (gutai meaning concreteness) in 1954. Similarly, the Gutai refused the conventional art form and aimed to “unite the human and material spirits in a cathartic act that simultaneously releases the energy of both.”9 Through the freedom they gained, the artists from these collectives were able to access contemporary music and art in the West, including Cage’s music, music by Olivier Messiaen, and information found in magazines such as Art and Architecture and Musical America from the United States.10 Yet, these artists seem to aim beyond the reproduction of the West as they were released from the political constraint and built new cultural identities that are independent of the West and Cage.

As these artists’ collectives become more active, one venue started becoming a hub for these groups where they held the concert series and exhibitions. The Sogetsu Art Center was built in 1958 in Tokyo Akasaka district and directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara. Teshigahara family is a respected family who created a school of ikebana (Japanese floral art), called Sogetsu-ryu.11 The Sogetsu Art Center no longer exists today and functioned for only 12 years (1958-1971), yet in that 12 years, it was an important place for Japanese avant-garde artists and musicians to meet, collaborate, and hold performances and exhibitions for diverse art mediums, such as film, dance, music, and happenings.12 The SAC was home to Sakkyoku Shudan, a composers’ group consisting of the leading figures at that time, such as Takemitsu, Hikaru Hayashi, Toshiro Mayuzumi, Yasushi Akutagawa, Makoto Moroi, Yoriaki Matsudaira, Akira Miyoshi, and Yoshio Mamiya, having frequent concerts, premieres, and experiments. In one particular concert, three of Takemitsu's musique concrète works were performed, including the brand new Mizu-no-kyoku [Water Music]. The piece is entirely built upon the electric sound of water dripping, steam, and rain. The effective depiction of nature and its score by Takemitsu showcases something opposed to the structured, planned, and organized European musique concrète.13 It is famously known that the composer who championed the idea of chance operation in music is John Cage through his major works, such as Music of Changes and 4’33,14 however, before his arrival to Japan, and before these Japanese young stars go to Europe to study, there was already a trend that aligns with what the latest Western music was doing in pieces like Takemitsu’s Mizu-no-kyoku.

Another prominent artists group at the SAC among less established groups is an improvisation-based Group Ongaku led by Shuko Mizuno and Yasunao Tone. The members of the Group Ongaku consist of students from the Tokyo Arts University who were seeking anti- established creative activities. As Tone told in the interview:

“Group Ongaku was aware of contemporary international avant- gardism, such as Pierre Schaeffer’s musique concrète, and had heard about Stockhausen and Cage. At the same time, they were also wary of the Japanese avant-garde’s tendency to adopt whatever passed as the new Western European music techniques without thorough processing and reflection. Seeking to avoid superficial imitation of European avant-garde techniques, they decided to adopt an approach which, as far as they knew, was unprecedented...”15

The Group Ongaku was mostly using the forms of intermedia, Happenings, and conceptualism through their improvisational approach, which is what Cage was doing around the same time.16 Toshi Ichiyanagi was a student of Cage at that time in New York and returned to Japan through Mayuzumi’s recommendation. He made the remark about his return to his home country and what he witnessed;

“At that time, Cage’s scores and recording were not easily accessible in Japan, neither were the foreign composers/artists younger than Cage yet introduced to Japan. Therefore, I was very surprised that there were musicians in Japan who held ideas similar to those American artists’ ”17

Therefore, it is no surprise that when Cage visited Japan for the first time in 1962, Ichiyanagi, who was accompanying Cage’s Japan trip, took his teacher to SAC and arranged the meeting with the Group Ongaku who immediately grasped Cage’s interest and attention, and became close friends with the composer. Since his return to Japan and the remarkable musical progress of his home country through groups like the Group Ongaku, Ichiyanagi rushed to introduce Cageian music and happenings to the Japanese public organizing several concerts, including at SAC. One of the important concerts Ichiyanagi organized was the well-attended recital at the SAC on November 1961. The members of the Group Ongaku and other Japanese leading avant-garde artists performed Ichiyanagi’s IBM - Happening and Musique Concrète, which is based on Cageian happenings and his chance operation. As a result of Ichiyanagi’s recital, the leading composers in Japan, such as Tone, Yorioki Matsudaira, and a number of Japanese music circles became interested in Cage’s experimental and chance music and explored the ideas in the context of their own artistic interests.18

Cage’s Arrival in Japan

Despite the fact the term “Cage Shock” was popularly used since his arrival in Japan and the SAC, Cage was not the first American composer who visited the SAC. Alan Havhaness was invited and visited the SAC in 1960 to give lectures and concerts. He made a remark from his visit disapproving that Japanese music was now;

“contaminated by Western music... with tonality violating [Eastern] melodies, time signatures violating [Eastern] rhythms, and harmony violating [Eastern] texture. ”19

His visit was initially for Japanese avant-garde composers and artists, however, there was more than profits for Japanese artists to meet and see Havhaness’s work, rather it was an exchange for Havhaness to see what the progress of Japanese experimentalism was like. This seems to be the case for Cage’s visit.

John Cage and David Tudor arrived in Japan in 1962 sponsored by the SAC. Mayuzumi and Ichiyanagi managed to organize six concerts in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Hokkaido. As I mapped out above, for the most of artists and musicians in Japan, Cage’s music and philosophy were not completely new to them due to Ichiyanagi and Mayuzumi’s work on promoting his music prior to his visit. In addition to reinforcing Cageian music through his graphic scores and happenings to the Japanese public and artists, Cage’s historical visit left the impression on both sides that the door is now open for artistic collaboration and exchange beyond the national and cultural distinction. In the winter of 1963, after his first visit to Japan, John Cage gave a lecture sharing his musical experiences and memories of the Japan trip with the students at the University of Hawaii which focuses on his learning from collaboration with Japanese artists throughout his tour in Japan. One of Cage’s learning was the creative scene at the SAC focusing on Group Ongaku and singling out Tone’s work. Cage witnessed their graphic piece which uses maps of the earth’s surface to direct the performance consisting of the wide space of silence, and thought this could be a sequel to his Atlas Eclipticalis, which makes use of the star’s surface.

Another important Cage’s encounter in Japan was with the engineer at SAC, Junosuke Okuyama, who is, as Cage said, “one of the finest engineers I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve encountered many.”20 Cage was interested in Okuyama’s use of contact microphones which he placed on a piece of wood to make the sound from the interior vibrations of the wood itself. Cage made the remark with the sound “beautiful and typically Japanese intention.”21 With his knowledge of Buddhism, he related this action with one of the Buddhist doctrines that everything has a life even things like plants, wood, metal, and things in nature. Moreover, when the experimental Americans were visiting Kyoto for the concert, Ichiyanagi took Cage and Tudor to Ryoan-Ji, one of the major Zen temples in Japan. The temple is famous for its rock garden in which fifteen rocks are carefully placed to create a simple and minimal view of nature. However, Cage was not convinced that these stones were not arranged in any particular ways making his observation that;

“those stones could have been anywhere in that space, that I doubted whether their relationship was a planned one, that the emptiness of the sand was such that it could support stones at any points in it. ”22

Twenty years later, Cage composed Ryoan-ji based on this experience tracing the contours of fifteen rocks which he believed to be operated by chance. Another Cage’s remark during his trip confirms that it is not he who brought “Japaneseness” that is distinct from the West, but the unique identity of Japanese sounds in the post-WWII has already existed;

“The world now has a Japanese music which is universal in character, but which is Japanese and not European. ”23

Even during the presence of Cage and Tudor in Japan, Cage’s student Ichiyanagi and his close friend from New York, Yoko Ono did not halt the promotion of Cageian music, happenings, and events through their own pieces. According to Everett, these two composers were viewed as radical avant-garde artists who were active in the field of breaking traditional barriers that separated audiences from performers, professionals from amateurs, and music from the noise of daily life.24 Their pieces derived from the notion of Happenings, which makes a deliberate absence of an information structure containing plot and dialogue, and Events, the informational structure of everyday ritual or routine and threw it into high relief for the performer. In addition to Ichiyanagi’s graphic piece IBM, Ono’s Cut piece, brought big attention when it was premiered at SAC. In this piece, Ono, who was a performer on the stage, invites audience members to cut her clothes one piece by piece with scissors while she keeps her steady pose on the stage.25 It is undeniable to say both Ichiyanagi and Ono played an important role to prepare Japanese public as well as artists for Cage’s arrival and continue to promote the ideas of Happenings and Events during and after Cage’s visit to Japan.

The final concert of Cage and Tudor’s trip took place at the Sapporo Contemporary Music Festival featuring the largest amount of collaborative performances between two American artists and Japanese artists. Both Cage and Tudor joined as performers in the performance of Japanese avant-garde works, such as Keijirō Satō’s Calligraphy for Piano and Takemitsu’s Ring and Corona.26 The highlight of this final performance in Sapporo was the premiere of Ichiyanagi’s Sapporo featuring eleven players on the stage playing a mix of objects and Western and Japanese instruments.27 Cage was a conductor, Tudor played biwa, Yūji Takahashi was on a bicycle, Yoko Ono sang, Kenji Kobayashi played violin, Kuniharu Akiyama had wood boxes, Toshinari Ōhashi played contrabass, Toshio Kuronuma played cello, Harumi Ibe played guitar, Ichiyanagi played piano and drum, Seiji Ozawa kicked a toy car around. Since the piece required the reaction and attention among players, there was a certain tension as the players make improvisational performances to each other. Overall, Cage and Tudor’s visit was a huge success for both American and Japanese avant-garde communities and proved so many possibilities for collaboration and intercultural learning and exchange in the experimental music world. Though it is interesting to note that some of the established Japanese composers at that time were critical of Cage’s direct relationship with Japanese Zen philosophy. Takemitsu first expressed that Cage’s chance operation was not structured enough based on the Zen philosophy although he later revealed his respect for Cage to bring him back to contemplate Japanese culture and music as the opening quote suggested.28

Conclusion and After Cage’s Visit to Japan

Although it is uncertain how Cage’s trip to Japan was influenced by or spoken with the 1961 YTokyo East-West Music Encounter, it is worth mentioning that this international conference and festival of Eastern and Western Music took place at Tokyo Metropolitan Festival Hall the year before Cage’s first visit to Japan. This event featured the world's top musicians and organizations such as composers Luciano Berio, Boris Blacher, Elliott Carter, Henry Cowell, Lou Harrison, Bruno Maderna, Virgil Thomson, Iannis Xenakis, Leonard Bernstein, Aloys and Alfons Kontarsky, Hermann Prey, and Isaac Stern; musicologists and critics Alain Danielou, Mantle Hood, and Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt; and the performing institutions Coro Polifonico, The Juilliard String Quartet, The New York Philharmonic, and The Royal Ballet; musicians and dancers of Indonesian,

Indian, and Japanese traditional genres took part.29 Although there have been several controversies in the aim of this international conference in relation to political connotations and cultural reinterpretation, the fact this event occurred in Japan may suggest another reason that Cage was not the only figure who shaped the Japanese music scene in the post-WWII. In fact, after the war, it was not only Japan that gained freedom in artistic activities from political regression, but also the entire world became more open than ever before for intercultural exchange and interactions in artistic activities. This trend led The New York Philharmonic to commission Takemitsu to compose November Steps in 1967 and fostered the next phase in the contemporary music world for the experiment of cultural fusion in music and art through the distinct national identity in visual and sonic experiences.

As I mapped out above with the emphasis on the actor-network theory of Japanese avant- garde music after World War II, it seems to suggest that Japan was able to generate its own network and development in the experimental music world through the liberty that artists gained an open network with the allied countries. In this context, John Cage was one of many Western visitors who were able to collaborate and exchange with Japanese artists and received inspiration from the culture. This is not to say Cage did not influence the Japanese avant-garde scene, but his close contacts like Ichiyanagi, Mayuzumi, and Ono contributed to bringing and advocating Cageian influences to Japanese creative output. Yet, Takemitsu’s opening quote is still relevant to me which suggests that without the interactions with Cage and other American/European artists, these cultural exchanges and collaboration, which made the ultimate strength of Takemitsu’s music would not have been possible.

Footnote

1 Larson, Jeremy. How John Cage Inspired Toru Takemitsu to Embrace Japan. 2017

2 Larson, Kay. “Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists. Penguin Books; Reprint edition. 2013. 172

3 Piekut, Benjamin. Actor-Networks in Music History: Clarifications and Critiques. Twentieth- Century Music / Volume 11 / Issue 02 / September 2014, pp 191 - 215

4 Takemitsu, Tōru. “Contemporary Music in Japan.” Perspectives of New Music 27, no. 2 (1989): 198–204

5 Everett, Yayoi Uno. 2012. “Scream against the Sky: Japanese Avant-Garde Music in the Sixties.” In Music and Protest, 187.

6Everett. 190.

7 Everett. 190.

8 Everett. 190.

9 Yurchak, Everything Was Forever, until It was No More, 31.

10 Yang, Serena. “Against ‘John Cage Shock’: Rethinking John Cage and the Post-War Avant- Garde in Japan.” Twentieth-Century Music 18, no. 3 (2021): 341–62.

11 Havens, Thomas R. H. Radicals and Realists in the Japanese Nonverbal Arts: The Avant-Garde Rejection of Modernism. University of Hawai’i Press, 2006.

12 Everett. 193.
13 Fukunaka, Fuyuko. “World Music History and Interculturality: Toward Recontextualizing Post- War Japanese Avant-Garde Music.” The World of Music 6, no. 1 (2017): 59–71.
14 Randel, Don Michael. The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2002. 15 Yang. 347.

16 Everett. 195.

17 Yang. 347.

18 Yang. 349.

19 Fukunaka, 64.

20 Cage, John. 2004. “Contemporary Japanese Music: A Lecture by John Cage.” In Locating East Asia in Western Art Music, edited by Fredric Lieberman, 195.

21 Cage, 196.
22 Nakai, You. Of Stone and Sand: John Cage and David Tudor in Japan, 1962 23 Cage, 198.

24 Everett, 196

25 Everett, 200

26 Yang. 353.

27 Yang. 353.

28 Everett, 197.

29 Fukunaka, 66.

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