About Akira Ifukube

(19) 一子相伝の家系であった伊福吉部家は、伊福部昭で67代目を数えるという。代々鳥取の宇部神社で宮司を務めていたが、明治時代に入って昭の父親の代で北海道に転居した。北海道で森林官を務めた伊福部は、幼いころから音楽で喜怒哀楽を表わすアイヌ民族との交流をもった。このことが大自然に根差す土俗的な音楽を生み、伊福部家の生活に連面と馴染んできた神道儀式でつづる神楽とが融合して、伊福部の音楽には土俗的な民族の喜び、唄、祈りが感じ取れるのだ(写真向かって右端の人物が伊福部昭)。平成作品では、『ゴジラVSモスラ』『ゴジラVSメカゴジラ』『ゴジラVSデストロイア』を担当。

(19) Ifukube Akira is said to be the 67th generation of the Ifukuyoshibe family, which was descended from one child to the next. He served as the chief priest at Ube Shrine in Tottori for generations, but in the Meiji period, he moved to Hokkaido under Akira’s father. Ifukube, who worked as a forestry official in Hokkaido, had contact with the Ainu people who expressed their joy, anger, and sadness through music from an early age. This has given rise to vernacular music that is rooted in nature, and is fused with the Kagura performed in Shinto rituals, which have become intimately familiar with the Ifukube family’s life. Ifukube’s music has a vernacular, ethnic joy and song. You can feel the prayers (Akira Ifukube is the person on the far right when facing the photo). In the Heisei era, he was in charge of “Godzilla vs Mothra,” “Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla,” and “Godzilla vs Destoroyah.”

Source: 絶対ゴジラ, p 25