Nagayo Moto’ori, from 朝日新聞 January 12, 1917

Nagayo Motoori (本居長世) (1885-1945) was a Japanese composer known for children’s songs. Although his grandfather and guardian protested, he pursued a music degree at Tokyo School of Music (present day Tokyo University of the Arts) and began working there as a research assistant studying traditional Japanese music. He was well-known for his talent on the piano (for which he served as an assistant professor) but switched suddenly to composing due to a finger injury. During his employment at the university, he taught other important Japanese musicians such as Shinpei Nakayama.

Children’s music gained popularity in Japan mainly due to the children’s magazine Akai Tori (赤い鳥). Motoori had his first children’s song published in a similar magazine, Kin no Fune (金の船) and began gaining significant recognition thanks to a performance of his songs by his daughter Midoriko, who went on to become the number one singer of children’s music. Eventually, Motoori traveled all over Japan and abroad, performing his music with his three daughters.

Rekion access in OSUL — A large number of Motoori’s compositions are available through Rekion by inserting his name (本居長世) into the search box. Here is a sampling of his more well-known works, including some performed by his daughters:

Moto'ori's three daughters, from 読売新聞

Moto’ori’s three daughters, from 読売新聞 November 18, 1925

  • 七つの子　info:ndljp/pid/3580221
  • 汽車ぽっぽ　info:ndljp/pid/1321132
  • お月さん (performed by Motoori’s daughter, Midoriko) info:ndljp/pid/1316287
  • 鳥の手紙 (performed by daughters Midoriko and Kimiko) info:ndljp/pid/1313729\

The images in this article are available through OSUL’s Japanese newspaper database.

NOTE: This is one of a series of posts highlighting content available in Rekion (れきおん), the Historical recordings collection of the National Diet Library (Japan), which is available at a dedicated computer in the Music and Dance Library at Ohio State.  See the Introductory post in this series for more information about the database.