AKIRAIFUKUBE.ORG

BIOGRAPHY

Part 5

THE LATER YEARS

In 1984 Toho decided to revive its Godzilla franchise after a six year hiatus with a film called The Return of Godzilla (called Godzilla 1985 in the United States). Toho asked Ifukube if he would supply the film's score but Ifukube rejected the project. (Reijiro Koroku was eventually selected to write this music for this film.) Five years later in 1989, Toho produced Godzilla vs. Biollante which featured a score by Kôichi Sugiyama. To Ifukube's disapproval, his own Godzilla theme was used in this film in addition to the original score by Sugiyama.

In 1991, Ifukube was asked by Toho yet again to provide the music for their up-coming film, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. At first Ifukube refused. Despite this, Ifukube's daughter said to him "No matter how hard you try to escape Godzilla films, they will always use your name and melody lines, so why don't you do the next one yourself?" After receiving some additional persuasion from his students, he eventually gave in.

After Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Ifukube also went on to score three more Godzilla movies including Godzilla vs. Destroyer in 1995; this was a significant film for him in many ways. Godzilla was to die in this film so Ifukube pulled out all the stops in his approach to writing the music. For Godzilla's death scene, Ifukube wrote a tragic requiem "as if I was writing music for my own death," the composer commented. Furthermore, this became the maestro's final film score. (For more information on Ifukube's film music, please visit the Filmography section of this site.)

A scene from Godzilla vs. Destroyer (1996)

After Godzilla vs. Destroyer, Ifukube remained active as a composer. Although he almost completely abandoned orchestral scores, he wrote and arranged several chamber works, most notably for the 25-string koto.

In recognition of the cultural contributions Ifukube had made to his country, the Japanese government awarded the composer some of its highest honors including the Order of Culture and the Order of the Sacred Treasures.

In May 2001, days before Ifukube's 87th birthday, a small monument was established in Otofuke, Hokkaido to honor the composer.

Ifukube monument in Otofuke

On the night of February 8, 2006, Akira Ifukube died at the Meguro-ku hospital in Tokyo due to multiple organ failure. He was 91 years of age. A subsequent funeral was held for him in Tokyo on February 14, 2006.

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