Yamagata Prefecture is home to the Yamagata Symphony Orchestra ("Yamakyo"), the first professional orchestra in the Tohoku region. It was founded by the conductor Chiaki Murakawa.
"An orchestra for my hometown, Yamagata"
Chiaki Murakawa was born in 1933 in Murayama City, Yamagata Prefecture. After studying at Tokyo University of the Arts, he went to the United States in 1963, majored in conducting at the graduate school of Indiana University, and in New York studied under the conductor Leopold Stokowski.
He returned to Japan in 1966 and made his debut as a guest conductor with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. He could surely have pursued a career in Tokyo, but Murakawa held on to the wish for "an orchestra for my hometown, Yamagata."
In 1971 he organized a preparatory orchestra, and the following year, 1972, he founded the Yamagata Symphony Orchestra. It was the first professional orchestra in Tohoku and the 14th in Japan. That same year an association was created to run it, and in September its first subscription concert was held.
Creating a place for culture in a region
Maintaining a professional orchestra outside the big cities is not easy. Even so, Yamakyo has continued with the support of local companies and the people of the prefecture, and has grown into an orchestra recognized across Japan.
Chiaki Murakawa died in June 2025 at the age of 92. The passion of one person who, more than half a century ago, acted on the idea "if it is not here, build it" still resounds in Yamagata today.
An encouragement to me
I, too, am growing my painting work in Yamagata, one step at a time. You can keep making art in this land without moving to the capital. The history of Yamakyo shows me that such a path exists.
Not making the place an excuse. Building what does not exist, over time. That is what I take from the way Chiaki Murakawa lived.
Mermaid nao's commissioned art, too, tries to reach people all over Japan from the place called Yamagata.
Sources
Yamagata Symphony Orchestra official (Orchestra profile / What Yamakyo aims for)
Wikipedia (Yamagata Symphony Orchestra / Chiaki Murakawa)
Nikkei (Obituary: Chiaki Murakawa, conductor, founding honorary conductor of the Yamagata Symphony Orchestra)
TOWER RECORDS ONLINE (In memoriam: Chiaki Murakawa, conductor, 92)
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