It was the summer of 1945, as the war was drawing to a close.
A 15-year-old boy had been mobilized to an army food base in Saitama Prefecture.
He spent his days in a dimly lit, semi-underground bunker-like dormitory, living among soldiers.
The sounds of explosions and military songs. These were the sounds that filled his world at the time.
One night, a cadet officer in the same room discreetly placed the needle on a hand-cranked phonograph.
What flowed from it was neither a military song nor a march.
It was the sweet, gentle, and somewhat melancholic voice of a woman.
This single song completely transformed the life of one boy.
The boy's name was Toru Takemitsu.
He would later become the most renowned Japanese composer in the world of Western music.
The 'Enemy's Song' Heard by a Militaristic Boy
What played from the phonograph at that moment was the chanson 'Parlez-moi d'amour' (Speak to me of love), sung by the French singer Lucienne Boyer.
It was a French song about love.
In wartime Japan, this was 'enemy music'.
It was music forbidden to be heard, as it was considered culture from an enemy nation.
That's why the cadet officer listened to it in secret.
If he had been caught, he would not have gotten off lightly.
Takemitsu himself was a militaristic boy at that time.
It is said that he once punched a classmate who said, 'Japan is going to lose.'
He was a boy who genuinely believed in fighting for his country.
Yet, he was profoundly moved by this forbidden enemy song, more than anything else.
Into a world filled only with explosions and military songs, a completely different kind of sound suddenly flowed in.
Takemitsu later wrote about this experience:
That song was not something I tried to listen to intentionally; it simply poured into my body quietly, like a great current.
At that moment, he made a decision:
When the war ends, I will pursue music.
Sweet songs were forbidden, and only violent sounds were permitted. That very situation left a profound question in the boy's mind.
Perhaps this night was the starting point for Takemitsu's lifelong belief that peace and music are inextricably linked.
What Kind of Music Did That Song Transform Into?
After the war ended, Takemitsu began his journey in music.
However, his path was not smooth.
He was largely self-taught.
He had no access to musical education and no money to buy a piano.
It is said that he drew piano keys on paper or boards, carried them around, and played the sounds in his head.
And strangely enough, the sweet and gentle chanson that saved him that night...
The music Takemitsu pursued was not necessarily such easily understandable and beautiful music.
His early works had new, complex sounds that were often harshly rejected by critics of the time.
So, what kind of composer did the boy saved by that one song become?
And what legacy did the experience of being saved by an 'enemy song' during wartime leave in his music?
