---
name: "Tōru Takemitsu"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/toru-takemitsu"
fi1m_id: "toru-takemitsu"
imdb_id: "nm0006316"
tmdb_id: 51808
wikidata_id: "Q155467"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "8 October 1930"
died: "20 February 1996"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 90
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-09-26T15:23:26.228197+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Tōru Takemitsu

## Identity

Tōru Takemitsu

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/toru-takemitsu
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** toru-takemitsu
- **IMDb ID:** nm0006316
- **TMDB ID:** 51808
- **Wikidata ID:** Q155467
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%8Dru_Takemitsu, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q155467, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006316/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/51808

Composer. Born 8 October 1930 in Tokyo, Japan. Died 20 February 1996.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 8 October 1930, Tokyo, Japan
- **Died:** 20 February 1996
- **Active:** 1962–1985
- **Also known as:** T. Takemitsu, Tooru Takemitsu, T. Takemitu, Tôru Takemitsu, 武満 徹, Töru Takemitsu
- **Frequently works with:** [Tatsuya Nakadai](https://film.one/person/tatsuya-nakadai.md)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1960s 90 (2), 1980s 92 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 90 to 86 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 0 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 3, Action 2, History 2, Thriller 1
- **Screen time:** 7 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $23m across 2 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%8Dru_Takemitsu, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q155467, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006316/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/51808

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*Ran*](https://film.one/film/ran.md) (92)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Tōru Takemitsu (also credited as T. Takemitsu and Tôru Takemitsu) was a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music and film scores. Largely self-taught, he was a founding member of the Jikken Kōbō experimental workshop in the early 1950s. His 1957 Requiem for string orchestra brought international attention after praise from Igor Stravinsky.

Takemitsu scored more than ninety films. He composed the music for Masaki Kobayashi’s *Harakiri* (1962) and Akira Kurosawa’s *Ran* (1985), as well as *Woman in the Dunes* (1964), *Kwaidan* (1965), *Samurai Rebellion* (1967) and *Black Rain* (1989). He received the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for *Ran* and multiple Japanese Academy Awards for film music. He also wrote several hundred concert works and twenty books before his death in 1996.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, allmusic.com, letterboxd.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

- *Ran* (1985), Fi1m 92, Music, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/film/ran.md)
- *Woman in the Dunes* (1964), Fi1m 88, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/woman-in-the-dunes.md)
- *Harakiri* (1962), Fi1m 91, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/harakiri.md)

## Complete filmography (111)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *A Slippage in Five Movements* (2023), Music
- *Ludwigsburg Castle Festival 2022 - The Unfinished Revolution* (2022), Original Music Composer
- *100 Years of Japanese Cinema* (1995), Original Music Composer
- *Spiritual Voices* (1995), Music
- *Sharaku* (1995), Original Music Composer
- *Rising Sun* (1993), Original Music Composer
- *Dream Window: Reflections on the Japanese Garden* (1992), as Original Music Composer
- *Basara: The Princess Goh* (1992), Original Music Composer
- *The Inland Sea* (1991), Original Music Composer
- *Rikyu* (1989), Original Music Composer
- *Black Rain* (1989), Original Music Composer
- *Wuthering Heights* (1988), Original Music Composer
- *An Early Autumn* (1987), series, Music
- *A Boy Named Hiroshima* (1987), Original Music Composer
- *Gonza the Spearman* (1986), Original Music Composer
- *The Empty Table* (1985), Original Music Composer
- *Ran* (1985), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 92, [page](https://film.one/film/ran.md)
- *Fire Festival* (1985), Original Music Composer
- *A. K.* (1985), Original Music Composer
- *Änglaverket* (1985), Music
- *2084: Video Clip for the Trade Unions' Reflection and Pleasure* (1984), Music
- *Antonio Gaudí* (1984), Original Music Composer
- *Lanterns on Blue Waters* (1983), Original Music Composer
- *Tokyo Trial* (1983), Original Music Composer
- *Prophecy* (1982), Original Music Composer
- *Rennyo and His Mother* (1981), Original Music Composer
- *The Minamata Mural* (1981), Original Music Composer
- *Yumechiyo Nikki* (1981), series, Original Music Composer
- *Ki or Breathing* (1980), Original Music Composer
- *The Lovers' Exile* (1980), Original Music Composer
- *An Ocean to Cross* (1980), Original Music Composer
- *House of Flames* (1979), Original Music Composer
- *The 47 Ronins of Ako* (1979), series, Original Music Composer
- *The Japanese Part 3: Farm Song* (1978), Original Music Composer
- *Glowing Autumn* (1978), Original Music Composer
- *Empire of Passion* (1978), Original Music Composer
- *Ballad of Orin* (1977), Original Music Composer
- *Flickering Flames* (1977), Original Music Composer
- *The Fossil* (1975), Original Music Composer
- *Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees* (1975), Original Music Composer
- *Himiko* (1974), Original Music Composer
- *The Petrified Forest* (1973), Original Music Composer
- *Time Within Memory* (1973), Original Music Composer
- *Dear Summer Sister* (1972), Original Music Composer
- *Summer Soldiers* (1972), Original Music Composer
- *Silence* (1971), Original Music Composer
- *Inn of Evil* (1971), Original Music Composer
- *The Ceremony* (1971), Original Music Composer
- *The Earth is Born Again* (1971), Original Music Composer
- *Dodes'ka-den* (1970), Original Music Composer
- *The Man Who Left His Will on Film* (1970), Original Music Composer
- *Bullet Wound* (1969), Original Music Composer
- *Double Suicide* (1969), Writer, Original Music Composer
- *Kyoto* (1969), Original Music Composer
- *Hymn to a Tired Man* (1968), Original Music Composer
- *The Man Without a Map* (1968), Original Music Composer
- *Nanami: The Inferno of First Love* (1968), Original Music Composer
- *Two Hearts in the Rain* (1968), Original Music Composer
- *Two in the Shadow* (1967), Original Music Composer
- *Samurai Rebellion* (1967), Original Music Composer
- *The Izu Dancer* (1967), Original Music Composer
- *Clouds at Sunset* (1967), Original Music Composer
- *Once a Rainy Day* (1966), Original Music Composer
- *The Face of Another* (1966), as Man Smoking in Bar (uncredited) · Original Music Composer
- *Captive's Island* (1966), Original Music Composer
- *The Kii River* (1966), Original Music Composer
- *The Song of the Bwana Toshi* (1966), Original Music Composer
- *The Koumiko Mystery* (1965), Original Music Composer
- *Beast Alley* (1965), Original Music Composer
- *Illusion of Blood* (1965), Original Music Composer
- *Samurai Spy* (1965), Original Music Composer
- *The Last Judgment* (1965), Original Music Composer
- *Jose Torres II* (1965), Original Music Composer
- *With Beauty and Sorrow* (1965), Original Music Composer
- *Kwaidan* (1965), Original Music Composer
- *Car Thieves* (1964), Original Music Composer
- *The Call of Flesh* (1964), Original Music Composer
- *Ako* (1964), Original Music Composer
- *That Tender Age* (1964), Original Music Composer
- *Assassination* (1964), Original Music Composer
- *Escape from Japan* (1964), Original Music Composer
- *Our Happiness Alone* (1964), Original Music Composer
- *Children Hand in Hand* (1964), Original Music Composer
- *Pale Flower* (1964), Original Music Composer
- *Woman in the Dunes* (1964), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/woman-in-the-dunes.md)
- *Mon-Yo: Ornamental Motifs from Japan* (1963), Original Music Composer
- *Alone Across the Pacific* (1963), Original Music Composer
- *She and He* (1963), Original Music Composer
- *Pressure of Guilt* (1963), Music
- *La Fée Diabolique* (1963), Music
- *Twin Sisters of Kyoto* (1963), Original Music Composer
- *The Body* (1962), Original Music Composer
- *A Flame at the Pier* (1962), Original Music Composer
- *Harakiri* (1962), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 91, [page](https://film.one/film/harakiri.md)
- *Human Zoo* (1962), Original Music Composer
- *Pitfall* (1962), Original Music Composer
- *Love at Twenty* (1962), Original Music Composer
- *The Inheritance* (1962), Original Music Composer
- *A Full Life* (1962), Original Music Composer
- *Atami Blues* (1962), Original Music Composer
- *Bad Boys* (1961), Original Music Composer
- *The Shrikes* (1961), Original Music Composer
- *Women of Tokyo* (1961), Original Music Composer
- *Youth in Fury* (1960), Original Music Composer
- *X (Batsu)* (1960), Director
- *Vagabond Lovers* (1959), Music
- *Jose Torres* (1959), Original Music Composer
- *People Waiting for Spring* (1959), Original Music Composer
- *When It Rains, It Pours* (1957), Original Music Composer
- *Crazed Fruit* (1956), Original Music Composer
- *Silver Wheel* (1955), Original Music Composer

## Awards

### Other awards — 3 won

- Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition 1994: Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition (won)
- Maurice Ravel Prize 1990: Maurice Ravel Prize (won)
- Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres 1985: Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/toru-takemitsu