is a Japanese singer, composer and poet.

Musical career

Yoshiko Sai was born in the south of

Nara Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakayama P ...

in 1953. As a child she liked to draw, and eventually also became a keen reader. Although tests left little time for this hobby during high school, she recalls that she read some works by

Edogawa Ranpo , better known by the pen name was a Japanese author and critic who played a major role in the development of Japanese mystery and thriller fiction. Many of his novels involve the detective hero Kogoro Akechi, who in later books was the le ...

. In junior high school she entered the chorus club. Then in senior high school she and four other students started a band inspired by the popular folk group "Akai Tori" (赤い鳥), but she was more interested in painting at the time (she would later be personally responsible for the artwork of most of her albums). After failing to enter the Kyoto University of the Arts in 1972 she enrolled in the law department at

Doshisha University , mottoeng = Truth shall make you free , tagline = , established = Founded 1875,Chartered 1920 , vision = , type = Private , affiliation = , calendar = , endowment = €1 ...

instead, but spent the following year bed-ridden by a kidney disease. During her convalescence she read many books by famous authors, but most of all bizarre and dreamlike novels by authors like Mushitarō Oguri, Tachibana Sotoo,

Yumeno Kyūsaku was the pen name of , an early Shōwa period Japanese author, Zen priest, post office director and sub-lieutenant. The pen name roughly means "a person who always dreams". His Dharma name was . He wrote detective novels and is known for his avan ...

Juran Hisao was the pen-name of a Japanese author of popular fiction in Shōwa period Japan. Hisao Jūran was a pioneer in the use of black humor in Japanese literature. His works reflect his extensive knowledge of a wide range of subjects, and displayed ext ...

and

Seishi Yokomizo was a Japanese mystery novelist, known for creating the fictional detective Kosuke Kindaichi. Early life Yokomizo was born in the city of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. He read detective stories as a boy and in 1921, while employed by the Daiichi Bank ...

. She recalled that "... perhaps it was because of my illness, but reading dark novels made me feel calm." The books would have a large influence on her later songwriting. After being discharged she began to write poems, and came up with the idea of turning them into songs so that many people could listen to them at once. She became a professional musician after meeting Rabi Nakayama after a concert, who was convinced to let her record her first album. Yoshiko's first album was produced by

Yuji Ohno is a Japanese jazz musician. Ohno is known for his musical scoring of Japanese anime television series, particularly ''Lupin III'', and most famously the 1977 series ''Lupin III Part II'' and the feature film ''The Castle of Cagliostro''. Ear ...

who would later become famous for writing the soundtrack of Lupin the III. Soon after recording her second album, she wrote movie soundtracks. Soon after her fourth album was out, Yoshiko Sai retired from the music industry. She kept low-profile until the 2000s when several re-publishing of her music and poems, as well as new material, emerged in Japan.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Mangekyou'' (sometimes credited as ''Mangekyo'', ''萬花鏡'') (1975) *''Mikkō ''(''密航'') (1976) *''Taiji no Yume'' (''胎児の夢'') (1977) *''A Room with a Butterfly'' (''蝶のすむ部屋'') (1978) *''Taklamakan'' (''タクラマカン'') (2008) *''Yoshiko Sai Live 1976/79'' (''佐井好子 -ライブ'') (2008)

Singles

*When Turning 20 Years Old (二十才になれば) (1975) *Uninhabited Island (人のいない島) (1976) *Spring Dream (春の夢) (1977) *Blue Glass Ball (青いガラス玉) (2015)

Collaboration albums

*''Crimson Voyage'' (2001) (with Jojo Hiroshige)

Poems

*Blue Glass Ball (1977)

References

External links

* * 1953 births 20th-century Japanese women singers 20th-century Japanese singers Singers from Nara Prefecture Living people {{japan-singer-stub