[Column] Shoji Yamashiro (Riki Ohashi) and the entertainment Yamashiro group - Exploration of sound, group, and environment as a comprehensive art
Column en 70s Experimental Tribal![[Column] Shoji Yamashiro (Riki Ohashi) and the entertainment Yamashiro group - Exploration of sound, group, and environment as a comprehensive art](/../assets/images/column-yamashiro-shoji.webp)
Prologue: Where cyber and primitive intersect - A person named Shoji Yamashiro
Text: mmr｜Theme: About the entertainment Yamashiro-gumi, which was formed in the early 1970s
In the 1970s, there was a person who stood out at the border between Japanese music and visuals. Shoji Yamashiro (real name: Riki Ohashi). He graduated from the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Tohoku University, and was interested in life science, information, and sound.With a background of scientific thought and sensibility, he positioned art as ““an experiment to explore the relationship between humans and the environment.’’
The place for this experiment was Geinoh Yamashirogumi, which was formed in the early 1970s. More than just a music group, it was a ““community for comprehensively exploring the relationship between sound, humans, and society” and was a ““place” that integrated music, ethnology, information theory, and anthropology.
Chapter 1: Birth of the entertainment Yamashiro Gumi - Art as a “group”
The starting point for the Geino Yamashiro Gumi was the formation of a ““collective’’ of people who came together across universities, companies, and professions. Doctors, teachers, engineers, students, housewives - people with different professions and philosophies shared an intuitive desire to ““live in sound’’.
From the beginning, Yamashiro defined art not as an act of individual expression, but as the expression of a group. Therefore, their rehearsals were not just performances, but the very process of ““sound generating a field.’’ The moment when body, voice, space, and time come together to resonate - that is the starting point for Geino Yamashiro Gumi.
“Music is the very structure of human consciousness. That’s why the sounds of a group are connected to the sounds of society.” — Shoji Yamashiro (1982)
Chapter 2: 80 types of “sounds of groups” from around the world - Quest for universal musical structure
Geino Yamashiro-gumi was active from the late 1970s to the 1980s. He has actually performed and researched ““80 types of ethnic performances from around the world’’. This was not just a collection of folk music, but an exploration of the fundamental question, ““What is the sound that humans make as a group?’’
◇ Examples of research/performance targets
| Region | Music/Rituals | Research Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Bali, Indonesia | Kecak, Gamelan | Collective trance and time structure |
| African tropical forest | Pygmy forest singing | Synchronization of environmental sounds and the body |
| Eastern Europe Bulgaria | Female chorus | Unequal meter and overtone structure |
| Caucasus Georgia | Male chorus | Spatial resonance and sociality |
| Tibet/Mongolia | Homie chanting | Laryngeal resonance and overtone separation |
Rather than treating these as “materials,” Yamashiro et al. observed and reconstructed their structure, function, and social significance. In particular, the ““acoustic structure that transcends time and space” of Balinese gamelan music is the underlying theme of Geino Yamashiro Gumi’s ““creation of groups,” ““information environment,” and ““environmental studies of sound.”
“People form groups based on sound. Sound evolves through groups.” — Shoji Yamashiro
Chapter 3: Reaching “AKIRA” – Fusion of electronics and ethnicity
In 1988, Geino Yamashiro Gumi composed the music for the world-famous animated film ““AKIRA’’ (directed by Katsuhiro Otomo). This is where Yamashiro’s acoustic philosophy reaches its peak.
◇ Acoustic design philosophy
- Bali gamelan polyrhythm × electronic pulse
- Tibetan esoteric chanting x sampled audio
- Urban reverberations and crowd sounds × spatial construction rhythm
It was not just a theatrical accompaniment, but a ““myth-building through sound’’, an attempt to connect the city and the primitive, the future and memory. The soundtrack of “AKIRA” has been reevaluated internationally as a fusion of electronic music and ethnic sounds. It also influenced later world-famous artists such as Aphex Twin, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Cornelius.
Chapter 4: Sound Environment - Science and Philosophy of “Listening”
After ““AKIRA”, Yamashiro developed the concept of ““environmental studies of sound” in parallel with his artistic activities. He reconsidered sound not just as an auditory stimulus, but as a ““point of contact between information and ecology.’’
◇ Main works and ideas
| Book title | Publisher/year | Content summary | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| “Sound and Civilization - Introduction to the Environmental Studies of Sound” | Iwanami Shoten, 2003 | Investigation of the effects of rainforest sounds and gamelan music on the brain | Amazon |
| “Hypersonic Effect” | Iwanami Shoten, 2017 | A monumental work that sharply questions the state of health and civilization | Amazon |
Here, Yamashiro defined sound as a ““communication protocol between humans and the environment.’’ Sound is not a symbol, but an ecological and social activity itself. This idea resonates with later research on ““soundscape” and ““media ecology.”
“Sound is an interface between the environment and information. Music is an algorithm by which a herd synchronizes itself with its environment. “
Chapter 5: Sensitivity as a Scientist - Physiology of Hearing and Social Sound
His scientific training at Tohoku University’s Faculty of Agriculture gave Yamashiro a unique analytical perspective. With an understanding of chemistry, biology, and the environment, he came up with the idea of viewing sound not only as a physical phenomenon, but also as part of life’s activities.
His approach is a back and forth between scientific observation and artistic practice. Rather than a laboratory, the human group itself is treated as an “acoustic system.” There was an ““experimental ethics’’ that sought to match the rhythms of life and society.
"”The sounds we hear are images of the world reconstructed in our brains. So music is the act of rehearsing the very structure of the world. “
Chapter 6: Crowds in the 21st Century - The Significance of Performing Arts in the Information Society
In the modern age of social media and AI, the concept of “swarm” is becoming important again. It can be said that the practices of the Geino Yamashiro Gumi anticipated the ““regeneration of communal resonance’’.
From “individual” to “group”. From “information” to “resonance”. The ideals advocated by the Geino Yamashiro Gumi in the 1970s are also the prototype for a ““new community’’ in a network society.
Music is not something that “communicates”, but something that “resonates with”. What Shoji Yamashiro explored was performing arts as an ecology of information and emotion.
Chronology: The history of Shoji Yamashiro and the entertainment Yamashiro group
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