"Mandomange" Photo: Masakazu Sakomizu---Guitar, Violin, Keyboards: Takashi Toyoda Bass: Koji Shimura Drums: Hiroaki Yanagihara Biwa:Kenji Mizoguchi
One of my favorite musicians for a long time, violinist, synthesizer player and guitarist Takashi Toyoda, helped me with the interview.
This blog post is mainly about his album "Mandomange". Mr. Toyoda composed the music for the soundtrack of the movie "Mandomange". It is for praise of the 1150th anniversary since Kobo-Daishi (Kukai) got into the Eternal Meditation in Mt.Koya,Wakayama Prefecture Japan.
First, about Mr. Takashi Toyoda. Born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan on July 13, 1959, He entered Tokyo University of the Arts from affiliated high school and left the university after two years to join Shinji Harada & Crisis in June 1980. He played in the band for two years and left the group. In 1981 he composed the soundtrack for the film "Mandomange".
Yoshida: Thank you very much. Could you tell us who directed this film, the running time, and how you came to be in charge of the music?
Toyoda: I don't remember the details, but it was produced by a company called East & West Vision, and the cinematography was by Joji Ide. Mr. Ide is a fellow pupil of Masakazu Sakomizu, who took the photo for the cover of "Mandomange", and their photo mentor is Tadayuki Naito. Mr. Naito mainly took pictures of Sadao Watanabe, which led him to Africa, and he is famous for his black-and-white photo book of zebras.
Yoshida: Thank you very much. As you know, I'm a big music lover, and have been paying attention to your music since the days of Shinji Harada and Crisis.
In particular, I listened to the album "Mandomange" like an obsession. Actually, I got this "Mandomange" record three times. By the way, your own experiences with supernatural phenomena, such as encountering and riding on a UFO are very interesting. Could you tell us about them?
Toyoda: Mr. Sakomizu was mainly in charge of photography, and Mr. Ide was mainly in charge of films. And Mr. Ide mainly shoots films (Santana.etc) He used to be an actor in Kara Juro's theater company, but Mr. Kara told him that he was suited to be a photographer, so he started taking pictures of plays and movies. And there was a TV program called "Best Hit U.S.A.", his company East and West Vision made the Japanese version of it.
Back to the story of "Mandomange". At that time, this film (It is 16mm film) was screened at smaller Koyasan temples for their following. Smaller Koyasan temples had their own projectors at that time. I had been asked to make soundtrack after I came back from a short stay in the United States (California Institute of Arts).
I assumed that Japan was completely Americanized until then, but I found things unique and interesting.in Japan. One example is the house I'm living in now. Sorry for long story,
Ｗhen I was thinking of renting a house near here, I heard from my friends that
there were not many houses available. The real estate agents dealt mainly with apartments and only a few houses to rent.
But when I was chanting the mantra of “Fudo Son (Acala) “ Nohmak Sanmanda
I came up with an idea, I know! I'll ask a real Estate Agent(in Japanese We call it “Fudo・San”) . So I went there and made a lucky find. "A man in Tokyo has just bought it. He will come here after his retirement. Could someone else live here until then?"
“Fudo Son” led me to Fudo San !!
I rented it and found a temple Acala's sword was sticked out of the roof…nearby.
When I visited the temple and chanting before I say anything, the priest appeared and gave me rice in plastic bag only saying "I see. I see.”
This evening. When I cooked that rice for the first time in the house, I found a talisman of Acala on the wall of the kitchen. It was pasted by the grandmother of the former owner of the house. She died as a believer. This is not the thing one can do knowingly.
Furthermore, the landlord in Tokyo who said the retirement age was coming died in distress while climbing Mt. Tanigawa as a hobby.
At the same time my parents reached retirement age.
The bereaved asked me to buy the house. So I bought it and invited my parents to move into the countryside. At that time, they had lived in a city after retirement.
This is the opposite of the usual (those days, it was more common for people to leave the countryside for the cities). Although recently due to the recession, young people are steadily coming back to the countryside, for there are more jobs.
Yoshida: Thank you very much. Interviewing someone with a well-known name like you in this way makes me somewhat nervous, but it's quite good. Thank you so much. Finally, if you have a message for those reading this blog, we would appreciate it.
Toyoda:If You don’t have it yet please search by Keywords " Takashi Toyoda MANDOMANGE 1981 Vinyl ".
Now I continue to compose and record at my home studio in mountain village near the southernmost tip of Honshu(main island of Japan) different from Mt.Koya but Same Wakayama pref.
We are planning to release a new product, so I'd be honored if you remember it.
Yoshida: Wow! I'm really looking forward to it. Thank you so much for agreeing to be interviewed on my blog and for taking the time to give me your valuable time. Please take care of yourself. I hope your success continues from now on.
Toyoda: You’re welcome! I’ll talk about UFO next time. It’ll be long story too.
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In this way, he agreed to be interviewed in a free-talking format.
They are truly precious stories.
Now let me show from the original soundtrack of "Mandomange".
Chapter of Summer - Mandomange
Chapter of Autumn-
Next is "Galaxy" from his album "Big Bang"
''Sammasati''
"Aria On G String" Or. by J.S.Bach
Finally, thank you very much again, Mr. Takashi Toyoda