AKIRAIFUKUBE.ORG - Kishi Mai

KISHI MAI
March for the Japanese Imperial Navy
(1943)

Ensign of the Imperial Japanese Navy

Akira Ifukube was commissioned in 1943 to write a brass band march for the Japanese Imperial Navy. Ifukube's inspiration for the piece came from the story of Empress Jingu (AD 169-264), who conquered the kingdom of Silla on the Korean peninsula. When she and her soldiers triumphantly returned to Japan, they brought back many important treasures, indeed symbolic of the glories of the Empress.

Two ancient Japanese texts, Kojiki, Record of Old Incidents (published in the year 712 and the oldest surviving book in Japan) and Nihon Shoki, Record of Japan (published in 720) both describe the playing of an epic march, Kishi Mai, when Empress Jingu returned to Japan. Ifukube wanted to compose a march on a similar scale, invoking the power and glory of the Imperial Navy. He named his new piece after that original march played for Empress Jingu's return: Kishi Mai.

Ifukube's Kishi Mai was first performed on April 8, 1943.

Empress Jingu arriving on the Korean peninsula

Towards the end of the Second World War, in addition to his work as a composer, Ifukube was appointed by the Imperial Army to conduct a study on the vibratory strength and elasticity of wood. The Japanese army had captured an all-wood British war plane, the DeHavilland Mosquito, and Ifukube was assigned to examine the aircraft because of his scopic studies of the properties of wood during his university days. Unfortunately, this process involved the extensive use of X-rays, and because of the wartime shortage of lead, these experiments were performed without the benefit of a protective suit. Ifukube was later hospitalized for radiation exposure, unable to work again for over a year.

At the end of the war, while he was still in the hospital due to his radiation exposure, Ifukube was startled one day to hear Kishi Mai being played over the radio when General Douglas MacArthur arrived at the Atsugi air base to formalize the Japanese surrender.

General Douglas MacArthur (center) arriving at Atsugi Air Base, August 30, 1945

The first ever commercial recording of Kishi Mai became available in 2005. Japan's King Records included the piece on Wind Instrument Music Collection, an album featuring the Japan Ground Self Defense Force Central Band.

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Acknowledgments: Ifukube on Ifukube: Interview with Akira Ifukube by Ed Godziszewski, translated by Michiko Imamura, G-Fan Magazine, November/December 1995