Akira Ifukube

Akira Ifukube (伊福部昭)

Composer
Date of birth

May 31st, 1914
Hokkaido, Japan

Date of death

February 8th, 2006
Tokyo, Japan

Composer Filmography

Biography

One of Toho's most famous composers, Akira Ifukube is well known for his numerous contributions to the Godzilla series; however, his portfolio of work spans far beyond, with his earliest score dating as far back as 1947.

Following the closure of the Godzilla series in 1975 with Terror of Mechagodzilla and after completing his score of Love and Faith (1978), Ifukube placed himself into "retirement" and avoided composing soundtracks. One of the more popular requests at the time was for Ifukube to perform live concerts featuring music from his numerous movie themes. Ifukube turned down these requests, insisting that the music wouldn't work as a stand alone experience. In 1983, Ifukube finally caved in and created his Symphonic Fantasia, later released as Godzilla Fantasia, and used it during tours. In 1986, Ifukube created Ostinato, a collection of newly updated film themes on commission from Toho, and the music was featured in numerous "outtake" scenes that Toho begin to distribute with their films.

With the Godzilla series started once again, Ifukube was being pressured to return to score the new films, yet he continued to turn down the offer. It wasn't until composer Koichi Sugiyama made a "pop culture" update of Ifukube's Godzilla theme in Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) did Ifukube decide to return to the scene. This occurred after his daughter heard Sugiyama's score and told her father even if he didn't agree to participate they would use his themes anyway: "so why don't you just do the next one yourself?" So Ifukube returned to the Godzilla series, after a 16 year absence, to score Toho's 60th Anniversary film: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991). Ifukube would score four other films in the Godzilla Heisei series before its closure with Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), which also marked the end of his career as a composer. However, Ifukube's music still persists in films to this day, much like Ifukube's own daughter predicted, appearing in everything from the 2000 American film Boiler Room to Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007).


Composer Toho Filmography

Date Title Type
1947 Snow Trail Produced
1954 Godzilla Produced
1956 Rodan Produced
1956 A Will o' the Wisp Produced
1956 Rainy Night Duel Produced
1956 Good Couple Produced
1957 The Mysterians Produced
1957 Yagyu Confidential Produced
1957 The Detested Produced
1957 The Last Pursuit Produced
1957 Downtown Produced
1958 Varan Produced
1958 Ninjitsu Produced
1958 A Bridge For Us Alone Produced
1959 The Three Treasures Produced
1959 Battle in Outer Space Produced
1959 Samurai Saga Produced
1959 The Big Boss Produced
1959 Whistle in My Heart Produced
1961 Daredevil in the Castle Produced
1961 Different Sons Produced
1962 King Kong vs. Godzilla Produced
1962 Chushingura Produced
1963 Atragon Produced
1964 Mothra vs. Godzilla Produced
1964 Dogora Produced
1964 Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster Produced
1964 Whirlwind Distributed
1965 Invasion of Astro-Monster Produced
1965 Frankenstein vs. Baragon Produced
1966 The War of the Gargantuas Produced
1966 The Adventure of Taklamkan Produced
1967 King Kong Escapes Produced
1968 Destroy All Monsters Produced
1968 Challenged Youth Produced
1969 Latitude Zero Produced
1970 Space Amoeba Produced
1970 Will to Conquer Produced
1970 Mitsubishi Pavilion Attraction
1970 Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo Distributed
1972 Godzilla vs. Gigan (stock) Produced
1973 The Human Revolution Produced
1973 Zatoichi's Conspiracy Distributed
1974 Sandakan No. 8 Produced
1975 Terror of Mechagodzilla Produced
1978 Love and Faith Distributed
1984 Bye-Bye Jupiter (Main Title: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster) Produced
1989 Godzilla vs. Biollante (Godzilla's Theme, Great Monster War, Godzilla vs. Tank Squad) Produced
1991 Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah Produced
1992 Godzilla vs. Mothra Produced
1993 Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II Produced
1994 Monster Planet of Godzilla (stock) Attraction
1994 Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (Godzilla's Theme) Produced
1995 Godzilla vs. Destoroyah Produced
1997 Godzilla Island (stock) Televison
1999 Godzilla 2000: Millennium (Godzilla's Theme) Produced
2000 Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (Godzilla's Theme) Produced
2001 Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack (Godzilla's Theme, Great Monster War) Produced
2004 Godzilla: Final Wars (Godzilla's Theme) Produced
2005 Super Fleet Sazer-X the Movie (Gotengo's Theme) Produced
2007 Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (Godzilla's Theme) Produced
2016 Shin Godzilla (Godzilla's Theme, Great War in Space, Main Titles) Produced