With great sadness, we announce the loss of our beloved koto master, Makiko Goto Sensei, who was born on January 29th, 1963, and passed away on January 16th, 2021. We mourn the loss of our great teacher and offer our deepest condolences to her family.
30 years of Creating Sawai Koto Europe
Makiko Goto Sensei was not only a virtuoso musician of the koto music, but she also carried her mission and effortlessly promoted Sawai Koto in Europe for 30 years. Her way was characterized by three focuses: contemporary music, familial koto groups, and Sawai Universal.
Contemporary Music
“I was astonished how famous Tadao Sensei was when I first came to Europe! I had the great honor to be invited to numerous festivals and joined various projects of composers, thanks to the international fame of Tadao Sensei. That is why I must be very well prepared before every performance - this is to honor Tadao Sensei, the composers, and the contemporary music.”
In 1992, Makiko Goto Sensei moved from Hawaii to the Netherlands. It was a golden age of contemporary music and she spared no effort to present the charm of this traditional Japanese instrument to the composers. She showed the tradition and potential of the koto instrument to the composers. She treated every contemporary piece meticulously, practiced hundreds of times so that she could precisely play them, especially for an orchestra or an ensemble. She invented new, unique sound effects and techniques with the composers, to create many special sound spaces and atmosphere. Composer Toshio Hosokawa regarded her as the best performer of his koto music.
In her teaching, she inspired her students with the method of improvisation: feeling the music with their bodies and breathing with the koto. With such teaching approaches, she demonstrated the spirit of Tadao Sawai Sensei, the koto music for the future.
Koto Groups
Although she was busy giving performances and demonstrations across Europe, she held three long-term koto groups in Germany, where she taught every month and organized annual student concerts. The earliest groups were the Japanese group and the Düsseldorf Eko-Haus Temple group. Later she also created a group in Cologne, at the Tenri Kulturwerkstatt. She also taught at the Leo-Kestenberg Musikschule in Berlin since 2015.
Together there were more than 40 students, but Goto Sensei’s care for each student meant she provided them with individualized training according to their personal needs and wishes as a koto player. She generously rented out instruments to her students or helped them to obtain instruments from Japan. During her lessons, she prepared tea and snacks for a relaxing and friendly chat. She even celebrated each new year with her students. Such familial atmosphere made the students feel very close to her and each other. She encouraged and inspired young performers, like Akiharu Kitagawa in the UK, by inviting him to perform in Berlin and teaching him traditional and modern ways of playing the koto. Through such opportunities, Makiko Sensei encouraged fellow koto players to challenge themselves to take Sawai Koto Certificates of various levels. She was also involved in the koto group of Naoko Kikuchi Sensei in Frankfurt and went to Prague for various activities.
She allowed students to join performances shortly after beginning their studies and happily dressed them in beautiful kimonos. For big performances, like Gartenfest at the Eko-Haus, Kindertag at Tenri, or UNICEF Concert in Berlin, she arranged rehearsals, organized all the instruments and logistics, provided delicious food to members, and let the students enjoy playing in the ensemble and shine on the stage. Despite the hard work, she was patient and always willing to complete numerous tasks involved. The repertoires of the koto ensemble were often pieces from Tadao Sensei and Hikaru Sensei. Of course, she kept no secret of her virtuoso Sawai style techniques to her students. When students visited Japan, she would introduce them to Kazue Sensei and Hikaru Sensei for special lessons. Through these experiences, the students in her koto groups shared the sense of belonging as Sawai members, and they are proud to be a part of Sawai Koto Institution. Makiko Sensei considered this to be the best present to her teachers, Tadao Sensei and Kazue Sensei.
Sawai Universal
“Sawai Universal” is a concept created by Makiko Sensei, the idea to integrate children’s activities and music from all over the world for multicultural exchange. Love and peace are without borders, and the seeds of them shall be planted into the small hearts of children: our future. She gave small children and teenagers cultural workshops and introduction courses in Antwerp, Paris, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Siegen… All around Europe! Each time was different, for example at manga and cosplay conventions, she created anime songs on koto for the workshops. She also let children try on colorful silk kimonos, which was super fun for kids and motivated them to know more about the Japanese culture. By teaching her own students this outreach method, some of the students now run workshops themselves. For example, she has supported Sachiko san in Düsseldorf to organize a long-term koto group at the Bilingual Japanese School. Many people said Makiko Sensei had a crystal-clear heart and a sweet smile like a little girl. Maybe that is why she could influence the children and gave them such wonderful cultural and musical experiences.
In many concerts she kindly invited her musician friends, who play various instruments, like Shakuhachi, Shamisen, Sheng, or Double Bass, to improvise with her students, creating new music each time. At these concerts, she often collected donations for children’s welfare, for charities such as UNICEF. She took over most of the cost by herself and considered this as her contribution to a better world. She was such a selfless person, like an angel.
Makiko Goto Sensei inspired so many musicians and composers, influencing uncountable audiences, especially children, for more cultural understanding. She showed us and her students how to play koto, how to take care of koto, how to love koto and how to live with koto. 30 years. 30 years of hard work in creating Sawai Koto Europe. Creating - not establishing - because she treated everyone as an equal friend, and she always had new ideas and visions for Sawai Koto Europe.
Her beautiful koto sounds and gentle voice will always be with us. The seeds of her spirit have reached all of us, and we will flourish to pass down her passion of music to the next generation. Thank you for what you have brought to this world. This world is more beautiful because of you. We would like to show our deepest condolences to her family. May you rest in peace, Makiko Sensei. We will miss you forever and you will live on, in our hearts.
Sawai Koto Europe
