Kikuko Kanai

was a Japanese composer and one of the first Japanese women to compose classical music in the Western tradition.

Biography Kikuko Kawahira was born on the Ryukyu island of Miyako-jima, Okinawa, and studied voice at the Nihon Music School and composition at Tokyo Music School. She studied with teachers including with Taijiro Goh, Kanichi Shimofusa, Hisatada Otaka and Kishio Hirao. Working as a composer, she produced songs and orchestral music using the Ryukyuan pentatonic scale.

In 1954 she studied the dodecaphonic method in Brazil with Hans-Joachim Koellreutter, and incorporated atonal composition into her work. She was awarded the Mainichi Prize for Cultural Publication in 1955, and a prize by the Okinawan government for her opera Okinawa monogatari in 1968. She died in Tokyo.

The BBC describe her as "one of the first Japanese women to compose Western classical music".

Works Selected works include: Ryūkyū no min’yō ('Folksongs of Ryūkyū') 1954 Okinawa monogatari opera Miyako-jima engi (Legend of Miyako Island) (ballet), 1949 Ryūkyū hiwa (A Hidden Story of Ryūkyū) (jazz ballet), 1951 Hiren Karafune (Love Tragedy on Tang Boat) (op, 4, Kanai and K. Yano), 1960 Okinawa monogatari (Tale of Okinawa), 1997 Symphony, no.1, 1938 Okinawa buyō kumikyoku (Okinawan Dance Suite): no.1, 1940, no.2, 1946 Ryūkyū kyōsōkyoku (Ryūkyū Rhapsody) no.1, 1946 Symphony, no.2, 1946 Uruma no shi (Poem on Uruma), 1952

Her work has been recorded and issued on CD, including:Just For Me - Noriko Ogawa plays Japanese piano music (1997) BISBridges to Japan'' Audio CD (17 October 2000) Bis, ASIN: B0000508RU