Toshiro Mayuzumi studied with Ikenouchi and Ifukube at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, from which he graduated in 1951. As a student he distinguished himself as an adventurous composer, sometimes writing in the traditional idiom of late Romanticism (the Violin Sonata of 1946), sometimes experimenting with jazz rhythms (Hors d'oeuvre for piano and the Divertimento for ten instruments), sometimes drawing on Indian or Balinese music (the Symphonic Mood and Sphenogrammes). The last of these works brought him his first public success and marked the beginning of his international reputation when it was performed at the 1951 ISCM Festival. Mayuzumi went to Paris in 1951 to study at the Conservatoire with Aubin; while there he was also able to familiarise himself with the new developments of Messiaen and Boulez and with musique concrete. Returning to Tokyo in 1953 he founded (with Akutagawa and Dan) the Sannin no Kai (Group of Three).

Mayuzumi has consistently experimented with new ideas and techniques in his compositions. His X, Y, Z (1955) was the first Japanese example of musique concrete, and his Shusaku I (1955) the first of synthetic electronic music. He also utilised prepared piano, 12-note, serial and aleatory methods; however, it is possible to identify in his work a predominant interest in the unique sonorities of instruments and voices. This has led him to employ such unexpected combinations as 'claviolin', electric guitar and vibraphone (in the orchestral Ektoplasm) or five saxophones, piano and musical saw (in Tone Pleromas 55).

In 1958 a new direction in Mayuzumi's music was opened by Nehan kokyokyoku ('Nirvana Symphony'). Obsessed by the sounds of Buddhist temple bells, he analysed the sonorities acoustically and tried to reproduce their profound sensation by means of tone qualities, volumes and the use of space in the composition; the result was an Otaka Prize in the following year. Many of his works are based on Buddhist philosophy and music, among them Sange for male chorus, the Mandala Symphony, the symphonic poem Samsara and the cantata Geka (Pratidesana). At the same time he developed interests in traditional Japanese music, such as gagaku and shomyo (Buddhist chants), the no drama and the gidayu singing which accompanies bunraku. In Bugaku for orchestra (1962), which won an Otaka Prize in 1967, he attempted to imitate the sounds and rhythms of the music for the court dance after which the piece is named, while Showa Tenpyo-raku (1970) was written for an actual gagaku ensemble. A hun for three no instruments (1958) explores the rhythmic structure of the traditional play, and Bunraku (1960) is an evocation for solo cello of puppet drama. In his later years he composed only occasionally, presenting for many years the popular TV programme Dai mei no nai ongakukai ('The Concert without Title').

Mayuzumi has often collaborated with and provided incidental music for such theatrical groups as the Bungaku-za or the Haiyu-za. In some dramatic ventures he worked with Mishima, whose nationalist ideology was similar to his own; their joint projects included Bara to kaizoku ('Roses and Pirates', 1958) and a version of Wilde's Salome (1960). He has also composed much music for films, including Akasen-chitai ('Red District'), the first Japanese film with electronic music, Tokyo Olympic, which won the Mainichi Music Prize for a film score in 1964, and The Bible (1965). His two operas, Kinkakuji and Kojiki, both commissioned by European opera theatres, also reveal his nationalist learnings.

Masakata Kanazawa, from the New Grove.