Joe Hisaishi is a Japanese composer, conductor, and pianist who was born in 1950. He has written the music for the animated films of Hayao Miyazaki since the 1980s, among them My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away. He writes symphonies and other concert pieces too, and he conducts orchestras around the world. The best first piece for a child is “The Path of the Wind” from My Neighbor Totoro.
Quick facts
- Born: 1950, in Nagano, Japan
- Lives: in Japan
- Era: Contemporary
- Plays: piano, and he conducts
- Known for: the music for My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and other Studio Ghibli films
The life in short
Hisaishi was born Mamoru Fujisawa in Nagano, in central Japan. He began the violin at four by the Suzuki method. Read the Suzuki method explained for parents.
His father took him to see hundreds of films a year. In junior high school, he joined the brass band club, where he played the trumpet, the trombone, and the saxophone.
He studied composing at the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo. There he took an interest in minimal music, the pattern music of composers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass. It shaped his own style.
He took a stage name as a young man. “Hisaishi Joe” is a play on the name of the American musician Quincy Jones, as it is written in Japanese.
In 1983, he was recommended to a film director named Hayao Miyazaki, who needed music for an animated film. That film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, came out in 1984. Hisaishi has written the music for every Miyazaki feature film since, up to The Boy and the Heron in 2023.
In 2004, he became the first music director of an orchestra project in Tokyo, and conducting became a large part of his work.
A concert tour of his Miyazaki film music began in 2017 and filled arenas in New York, Paris, and London. It ended in July 2025 with three nights at the Tokyo Dome, for 130,000 people in all.
He holds posts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Japan Century Symphony Orchestra.
What the music sounds like
Hisaishi’s film tunes are clear and easy to sing. Many begin on the piano alone and then spread to the full orchestra. Under the tune, short patterns repeat in the way he learned from minimal music.
His concert pieces are busier and more rhythmic. He has written symphonies and a piece for viola and orchestra called Viola Saga.
Pieces to play first
“The Path of the Wind,” from My Neighbor Totoro. A gentle, swaying tune for the forest where Totoro lives.
“One Summer’s Day,” from Spirited Away. The film opens with this piano piece. It is quiet and wistful.
“Merry-Go-Round of Life,” from Howl’s Moving Castle. A grand waltz. Count “one, two, three” and sway.
“A Town with an Ocean View,” from Kiki’s Delivery Service. A bright, bouncy tune for a young witch who flies over a seaside town.
“Summer,” from Kikujiro. A light, skipping tune for piano and strings. It comes from a film with live actors.
What parents need to know
My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Ponyo suit young children. Spirited Away has some frightening scenes. Princess Mononoke has battles and is a film for teens. The music from all of them is fine to play on its own.
Things to do together
Sound off, sound on. Watch a scene with the sound off. Guess whether the music will be fast or slow, happy or sad. Watch again with the sound on.
Waltz. Play “Merry-Go-Round of Life” and waltz around the room.
Draw first. Play one piece before your child has seen the film. Draw what might be happening. Then watch the scene.
Play a tune. Easy piano versions of his film tunes are in print. A student in the first years of lessons can learn one.
Spot the pattern. In “The Path of the Wind,” listen under the tune for the short pattern that keeps repeating.
Print and play
Fill in a composer study notebook page for Hisaishi. For another composer of film music, read John Williams for kids. For the composers whose patterns he admired, read Steve Reich for kids and Philip Glass for kids. For more composers at work now, read living composers kids can hear today.
For more composers by era, see classical composers for kids.
Sources
Checked in November 2026.
- Chicago Symphony Orchestra. (n.d.). Joe Hisaishi.
- Hisaishi, J. (n.d.). Biography.
- Hollywood Bowl. (n.d.). Joe Hisaishi.
- Kotaku. (n.d.). Composer Joe Hisaishi describes his creative process.
- Qobuz. (2023). Joe Hisaishi, the soul of Studio Ghibli.
- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. (n.d.). Composer-in-Association.
- Wikipedia. (n.d.). Joe Hisaishi.
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Use it with your kids
Print a listening page, a practice chart, or a composer fact sheet. Or try a tool, such as the composer timeline or the piece picker.