A Memoir of Toru Takemitsu
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By Asaka TakemitsuiUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2010Asaka Takemitsu
All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4502-7111-0Contents
Acknowledgements........................................viiForeword................................................1Chapter 6 Music through Friendship......................157Toru and Asaka Takemitsu Chronology.....................169Afterword...............................................171
Chapter One
The Encounter
This interview covers Asaka's early years with Takemitsu—how they first met, their respective battles with tuberculosis (a disease that reached nearly epidemic proportions in Japan), then the first years of their marriage in Senzoku-Ike (a town favored by members of the NHK Symphony Orchestra) and Takemitsu's first work for NHK Radio. Near the conclusion Asaka recounts several famous episodes in Takemitsu's life—the piano sent by Mayuzumi as a gift, Takemitsu's meeting with Stravinsky, and his friendship with art critic Shuzo Takiguchi, one of many vital interactions that Takemitsu had with people outside of music. The interview begins on what may be a quintessentially Japanese note, namely the precise manner in which people address one another.
First meeting with Toru
Tetsuo O'hara: Because Shuntaro Tanikawa and others call you "Asaka-san," it wasn't long before I started calling you "Asaka-san" too. [laughs] And you called Mr. Takemitsu "Toru-san." Have you always called him that way?
Asaka Takemitsu: I don't remember what I called him at first. Long before our marriage I used to call him "Toru-san." We called each other "Toru-san" and "Asaka-san" all the time. Even my daughter Maki started calling him "Toru-san" after she grew up—probably because I referred to him in that way. [laughs]
O: Well then, "Asaka-san," I would like to ask you many questions. If you prefer to dodge any questions, just let me know. [laughs] So to begin, how did you first meet Takemitsu? How old were you?
T: We first met in 1951. I had just graduated from school, so I was twenty-one years old. Toru was my neighbor, and my younger brother was his friend.
O: How interesting. I thought you two met at the Shiki Theatre Company through his work. Where did you live at that time?
T: The neighborhood is Setagaya-Daita in Setagaya-ward, Tokyo. It was called Setagaya-Nakahara when I was a child.
O: Which part of Setagaya-Daita?
T: It was a five or six-minute walk from the station. There used to be a river there—now it's a culvert—and my family lived in front of it.
O: Was it on the west side, facing toward Shinjuku? Didn't that area suffer from war damage?
T: Yes, it was on the west side. That part of town used to be a residential area before the war, and I had lived there before entering elementary school. When the war became severe, my family evacuated to Shikoku, and when that area became dangerous, they moved to my father's hometown in Mie prefecture in the mountains. But I, for the life of me, didn't want to leave Tokyo at all. My sister and her husband had rented a house near where my parents lived after they were married. So I stayed at my sister's house and attended an all-girls' school from there. There were some houses in my neighborhood that suffered damages, but fortunately, my sister's house survived. After the war, my whole family returned to Tokyo, and we all lived together in that tiny house.
O: Right after the war was a period when the entire family lined up futons and slept together in one room, some as small as six tatami mats.
T: Yes, everyone lived like that. My sister's house had only four small rooms, and my whole family lived together.
O: And your sister's house was close to Takemitsu's house?
T: Toru's family—along with another family—lived across the street about five houses down from my sister's house. They had moved to their friend's house in our neighborhood after losing their own home to war damage. The area beyond their friend's house had burned down ... In those days you were lucky if you had a place to live. Many people were burned out of their homes, and ended up with nowhere to stay. Some lived in dugout shelters with roofs made from iron sheeting. During the air raids, many incendiary bombs were dropped on that area.
O: It is hard to imagine today ...
T: There was a house with a very nice black fence near where I grew up. The poet Sakutar Hagiwara lived there, as I think his own house had burnt down too. Toru's family was burned out twice before they moved to the house in my area, so they have no photos of that time. Until then, Toru lived with his aunt and not so much with his own family. But finally, at the house in Setagaya-Daita, he was reunited with his mother and younger sisters.
O: So, was that how he became friends with your younger brother?
T: Yes. They were about the same age, so they got to know each other and started to play together. Toru also came over to our house to play.
O: What is the difference in age between you and Takemitsu?
T: I am one year older than he is. My brother and I are two years apart, and Toru is in the middle. I was born in February and Toru in October, so I am older by one and a half years. After getting married, I would say, "We are one year apart in age" and he would say, "Aren't we two years apart?" In the old days, we used the East Asian age counting. He didn't have to emphasize such a minor detail, don't you think? [laughs]
O: You're right. [laughs]
T: My brother became close to him, and they would go out to eat or out to swim in the Tama River during the summer. At that time, Tama was still clean. They would take the Odaky Train Line to the Izumi-Tama River Station. Young people in our neighborhood gathered and formed an a cappella chorus. We said 'chorus' but we didn't have that many members, maybe about ten people altogether. Toru joined the group and conducted too.
O: Takemitsu conducted?
T: Yes. Once, when we were singing some trivial song, he said, "Let's sing this one" and began to conduct "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean." At that time, Toru and I didn't really know each other. He didn't care about his appearance at all—his pants had holes in the knees and were sewn together like a swab, and he wore women's geta with red straps. One time, he put on an American Army uniform and we all frowned at him. [laughs]
O: Do you think the uniform was an old one from the United States occupying forces?
T: He was employed at the army base in Camp Zama, so maybe it was. He worked as a 'band boy' at night and was able to use the piano during the day in return.
O: Was it around this time that he made a portable keyboard by drawing a piano on a cardboard? Did you ever see it?
T: I never saw it, but he did tell me about it.
O: I heard that, while you were in school, you were involved in a theatrical club.
T: When I was twenty-years old, I became involved in theatrical acting with a friend who also went to the Keisen Girls School in which I was enrolled. We didn't have anywhere to practice, so I, along with three members of the Tokyo University drama club, read scripts on the lawn at the Meiji Shrine. One of them knew an actor called Tomoo Nagai and I consulted him several times. He told me to audition for Haiyuza Actors Studio, so I did. But at the final stage of the audition, they took an X-ray for the medical exam, and that is when I discovered that I had tuberculosis. Mr. Nagai told me to take a leave of absence from the acting studio, but I couldn't do it. I was in deep shock, and thought there was no way I could pull myself together again. Staying in good health had been one thing that I prided on as a child, and I was the only one of my five siblings who never got sick. Anyway, I just wanted to focus on curing this illness. So I went to the Anti-Tuberculosis Association in Suid bashi, Tokyoand took the pneumothorax treatment.
O: What kind of treatment was that?
T: Fortunately, my tuberculosis was not that serious, but there was a shadow on my left pulmonary apex. They didn't have chemotherapy back then. Pumping air into the pleura restrained the activity in the lung and stopped the shadow from spreading. I went for treatment twice a week. Since they put air into the pleura and shrank the lung, my breathing became labored and I had such a difficult time breathing on my way home. Eventually the air naturally leaked out, so I would go back for another treatment. They took an X-ray to see how much air had leaked, and next injected more air into the pleura with a big fat needle, like the ones they use to sew tatami. And then they would take another X-ray to check whether or not the air went in properly. I did that for four years. I'm surprised I didn't develop cancer from all the X-rays. [laughs]
O: Was it after this period of your own illness that Takemitsu also developed tuberculosis?
T: My brother said, "We went swimming at Tama River and Toru spat blood. It was bloody phlegm." So I brought Toru to the Anti-Tuberculosis Association. We found out that there were big holes on both sides of his lung. The doctor said, "If it continues like this, you won't live long. You need to start treatment immediately." So we discussed it with Toru's mother, and decided to hospitalize him at Keio Hospital. His mother worked at Yasuda Fire Insurance Company (currently called Sompo Japan Insurance) and it helped that they had good medical benefits. That was in 1953, one year before we started living together. I read a lot of books about tuberculosis, so I was pretty knowledgeable about this illness. But Toru was totally indifferent.
O: You were firm and strong.
T: In that respect, yes.
O: Did Takemitsu recover after that?
T: When he was hospitalized, they treated him using three antibiotics together: Streptomycin, PAS, and Isonicotinic acid hydrazide. And these treatments worked really well for Toru. Many people complained of upset stomach from PAS, but his stomach was strong. The shadow in his lung started to shrink after taking a lot of PAS. But even before he was completely cured, Toru desperately wanted to go home. His first two pieces—Lento in Due Movimenti (1950) and Distance de Fée (1951)—had been premiered, but he wasn't confident that he could make it as a composer. He had no money either. So even though he was still in the hospital, he would go to conduct his own music live on NHK Radio wearing a cardigan over his pajamas.
O: So, this incident was after Jikken Kobo ('Experimental Workshop') was formed in 1951.
T: Yes, it was about two years later. He participated in Jikken Kobo but wasn't so active in it as of yet. Most of his friends were in better financial shape than him; I would say that, in those days, musicians tended to come from wealthy families. Toru had the passion to become a composer but didn't even own a piano. Right after his music started being performed, he was hospitalized with tuberculosis, so I think he became frustrated. Even though he was still ill, Toru wouldn't budge and he said, "I am leaving the hospital no matter what." But his mother told him to stay until he was completely cured. He had two younger sisters, and other families lived in the same house. So it was impossible to take him back home until his tuberculosis was gone. Toru's mother was working full-time, which was uncommon back then, having been widowed when Toru was seven years old. In such circumstances, a mother will usually want her first son to find a decent job and earn money for the family, but Toru wanted to become a composer even though he had no music degree. I think she was surprised, but she didn't oppose to it. Instead she said, "I won't look after you. If you can do it by yourself, then it's fine. Go ahead."
O: Maybe Toru's mother wasn't worried because you were there for him.
T: When Toru was hospitalized, his mother bought me a commuter pass for the train and asked me to visit the hospital everyday. Only I couldn't go everyday. I had to work and make a living myself. [laughs] And then Toru insisted upon leaving the hospital. So I thought I had to take him in. [laughs]
O: What were you doing at that time?
T: After I found out that I had tuberculosis, I almost gave up acting. I was working during the day and rehearsing with a theater group called Geijutsu Kyokai ('Art Association') at night. This group stayed together for two years and later on formed the puppet theater group Kakashiza. Eventually I joined the Shiki Theatre Company. Around the same time, my brother moved to the saka area and my parents went with him, so I lived alone in a boarding house in G tokuji, Tokyo. It was such a small room and I also had to think about taking care of Toru. [laughs] I joined the Shiki Theatre Company and performed a bit, but realized I am not suited for acting. Toru said he couldn't bare to watch me act. So I left the company in 1953.
O: Then, you started to live together ...
T: Toru and I started living together in 1954. Hideko Fukushima of Jikken Kobo helped us find a rental house in Senzoku-Ike, Tokyo. We lived in a two-room apartment on the second floor of a small house, and I think the rent was five thousand yen. So it wasn't a fancy marriage or anything, but our friends brought us gifts on June 15th and celebrated with us. I had some household belongings from my single days in Tokyo. But Toru, as the groom, moved in with nothing but a cardboard box full of music, and some other stuff. [laughs] He felt sorry for me and brought one beautifully varnished hibachi from his house. Toru wore geta and had nothing proper to wear. I complained that he couldn't visit NHK or anywhere looking like that, so my brother took pity on him and got him a navy blue suit from somewhere. In high school in those days, people bartered one thing for another or exchanged goods for rice. Toru wore that blue suit for a long time, and it was miserable ... [laughs] Of course, my parents opposed our marriage, but being unable to stand by any longer, I took custody of him. [laughs] He was ill, and didn't know whether he could make it as a composer. But I didn't think about the future.
O: You said you couldn't stand by any longer, but had you listened to Takemitsu's compositions already?
T: Before we got married, he gave me a concert ticket and asked me to come, so I went with my elder sister. The piece—Lento in Due Movimenti for solo piano-was his very first premiere. I also went to hear Distance de Fée for violin and piano performed by violinist Akiko Suwa. By that time, I was familiar with the members of Jikken Kobo, but I never really thought about whether Toru could be successful as a composer. Lento in Due Movimenti and Distance de Fée were so different from the music I had heard before, and I didn't know if they were any good. But I guess I did feel he had something special. Members of Jikken Kobo got along well together and visited each others' houses frequently, and quite often I was invited to go along. I felt that everyone found him difficult to deal with. Toru was not healthy, had no money, and used to disappear suddenly. One time, everybody got so worried and searched for him, only to find out later that he had taken a train by himself as far as Koriyama to visit Joji Yuasa's house. Mr. Yuasa's father was a medical doctor. Other times, and without any hesitation, Toru would spend the night under the eaves of somebody's house. [laughs]
O: That is troublesome. [laughs]
T: I remember one time he suddenly came over to my house in the middle of the night. There was no TV, so most households went to bed before midnight. But he came over after midnight and slid open the entrance door of our house. My father got mad and yelled at him, "Toru-san! What time do you think it is?!" [laughs] He didn't have a sense of time or any common sense, and was eccentric in a way. My brother did get along well with him, but one time they had a big fight. My brother was sleeping in the middle of the night, and Toru asked him, "Shigetosan, let's go to eat ramen in Shimo-Kitazawa." Ramen wasn't that fancy a thing but everybody was hungry in those days, so my brother was happy and said, "OK, let's go. Can you wait a minute?" So he changed his clothes and went outside. Then Toru said, "I'm not going." He had changed his mind while my brother was changing his clothes. My brother was normally calm and didn't get angry easily, but this time he got really mad at him and yelled, "What?!" and grabbed Toru's collar and started to fight. [laughs]
(Continues...)
Excerpted from A Memoir of Toru Takemitsu0by Asaka Takemitsu Copyright © 2010 by Asaka Takemitsu . Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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