Purple Magazine
— Purple #43 S/S 2025
The Tokyo Diary Issue
ryūichi sakamoto
SOUND PIONEER
portrait
by CHIKASHI SUZUKI
The legendary Japanese pianist and composer Ryūichi Sakamoto gained fame as a member of the cult band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) before launching his groundbreaking solo career. A pioneer of multiple music genres, he began piano lessons at six and was composing by 10, drawing inspiration from Bach and Debussy. Reflecting on his influences, he noted, “Asian music heavily influenced Debussy, and Debussy heavily influenced me. So, the music goes around the world and comes full circle.” Throughout his prolific career, Sakamoto’s music was closely tied to the moving image, and he composed over 120 film scores.
Sakamoto deeply revered environmental sounds and textures, believing that music required peace. He sought to create works that were both meaningful and transcendental. For one of his final projects, he visited the devastated Fukushima area to look for a piano that had survived the disaster. This ravaged, out-of-tune instrument became a centerpiece to his album Coda and part of his anti-nuclear activism.
This photograph, taken by Chikashi Suzuki in 2023, captures him not long before his passing at 71.
