is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

new-age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consid ...

musical group A musical ensemble, also known as a music group, musical group, or a band is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumen ...

, founded in 1980 by

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

as , changing its name to Himekami in 1984. The band's name is derived from

Mount Himekami Mount Himekami (, ''Himekami-san'') is a mountain in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. It lends its name to the band Himekami. Mt. Himekami is about north of urban Morioka and features alpine flora and views of Mount Iwate. A relatively easy hik ...

Morioka is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 August 2023, the city had an estimated population of 283,981 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of t ...

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

. The group's current line-up consists of

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

player , son of Yoshiaki, and vocalists Wakako Nakajima, Tomoko Fujii, Junko Shiwa, and Yoriko Sano. The album ''Ama Takami no Kuni'' (2008) was the first released by the group following founder Hoshi's death in October 2004.

Higher Octave Music Higher Octave Music is a sub-label imprint of Narada Productions. Since 2013, it is part of Universal Music Group's Capitol Music Group, which is located in Los Angeles. History Higher Octave was acquired by Virgin Records on behalf of EMI in 1 ...

has released a number of their albums in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Albums

As Himekami Sensation

* (1981, based on the work by

Matsuo Bashō ; born , later known as was the most famous Japanese poet of the Edo period. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative '' haikai no renga'' form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as th ...

) * (1982) * (1982, main theme for the Tetsutarō Murano film '' Tono monogatari'') * (1983) Sources:

As Himekami

* (1984, collaboration with YAS-KAZ) * (1985, collaboration with YAS-KAZ, theme of

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

''Gurutto Kaidō 3000km'') * (1986) * (1987) * (1988, soundtrack for the 32nd Yukunen Kurunen celebration) * (1989) * (1990) * (1992) * (1993, the song "Kaze no Inori" on this album is used as the theme song for the "Homura Kikō" segment of the

Taiga Drama is the name NHK gives to the annual year-long historical drama television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white ''Hana no Shōgai'', starring kabuki actor Onoe Shoroku II and Awashima Chikage, the network regul ...

''Homura Tatsu'') * (1994) * (1995) * (1995) * (1996) * (1997) * (1998, winner of the 40th Japan Record Project Award) * (1999) * (2000), including the song "Sennenno Inori" (Millennium Prayer)千年の祈り（千年回廊） 2021 Remastaring
/ref> * (2002, opening theme for the original soundtrack) * (2003) * (2004) * (2008-02-04 (released via the

web Web most often refers to: * Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal * World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to: Computing * WEB, a literate programming system created by ...

), 2008-04-02 (released in stores)) Sources:

Singles

* (1981) * (1985, collaboration with YAS-KAZ, theme of

''Gurutto Kaidō 3000km'') * (1994, collaboration with Oyunna) * (1996) * (1998, theme song from the TBS series by the same title) * (2000, theme song from the TBS series by the same title) * (2011) * (2011) Sources:

References

External links

Official site

Official Toshiba EMI site
Japanese electronic music groups Musical groups established in 1980 Japanese new-age music groups Musical groups from Miyagi Prefecture Higher Octave Music artists {{Japan-band-stub