Daiwa Scholarship alumnus Simon Cosgrove guides us through the fascinating story of Kimigayo, one of the world’s most enigmatic national anthems, an 11-bar composition written in an ancient Japanese mode with no final cadence. We will discover how a British military bandmaster was the catalyst for Japan’s first national anthem, and how the music of Kimigayo was shaped by the cultural and social changes of the Meiji Period. Kimigayo will be presented as a key to unlocking the Meiji musical aesthetic, and its influence on later national anthems around the world will be examined.

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About the contributors

Simon Cosgrove

Simon Cosgrove is Associate Professor and Head of Liberal Arts at Joshibi University of Art and Design, where he teaches music history. Simon moved to Tokyo as a Daiwa Scholar in 2003, after graduating as a prizewinner from Cambridge University. He won the Walter Todds Bursary as a finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, and he continues to perform as a professional jazz musician in Japan and around the world, having appeared with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Jamie Cullum and Seiko Matsuda, in addition to releasing four albums under his own name. Simon also plays the shakuhachi, and his academic research focuses on the development of Japanese popular music after the Meiji Restoration.