Michiyo Yagi

Michiyo Yagi
Michiyo Yagi playing a 21-string koto
Background information
Born	Tokoname, Aichi
Occupations	Musician, educator
Instruments	koto (21-string, 17-string, 18-string, 13-string), shamisen, electronics, voice
Years active	1986 → present
Associated acts	Peter Brötzmann, Paal Nilssen-Love, Akira Sakata, Tamaya Honda, Dōjō, Hoahio, Kokoo

Michiyo Yagi (八木美知依, Yagi Michiyo), a Japanese musician, studied koto under Tadao Sawai, Kazue Sawai and Satomi Kurauchi, and graduated from the NHK Professional Training School for Traditional Musicians. Between 1989 and 1990, during her tenure as Visiting Professor of Music at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, U.S.A., she premiered numerous modern compositions for koto and came under the influence of maverick American composers such as John Cage, Conlon Nancarrow, and John Zorn. Her solo koto CD Shizuku was produced by Zorn and released on the Tzadik label in 1999. In 2001 she recorded "Yural" with her koto ensemble Paulownia Crush for the East Works label. Under the auspices of the Japan Foundation, Yagi toured Russia with this ensemble in the fall of 2004.

An eclectic musician, Yagi has frequently appeared on Japanese TV and has performed at the Moers Jazz, Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, Archipel, Bang on a Can, Tokyo Summer, Vision, Punkt, Instal, and Music Unlimited Festivals. Yagi's koto has been featured in ex-Judy and Mary guitarist/singer Takuya's rock band, and she has recorded and appeared onstage with Ayumi Hamasaki, one of Japan's best-selling pop singers. Yagi was a founding member of the quartet Koto Vortex with fellow Sawai apprentices Yoko Nishi, Miki Maruta and Etsuko Takezawa, as well as Kokoo, a trio which performs originals and progressive rock covers exclusively on traditional Japanese instruments. She was also one-third of the avant-pop girl group Hoahio which recorded two CD's for Tzadik.