shamisen player / composer ​

As a professional shamisen player, pianist, and composer, she composes both Nagauta and Western classical music such as orchestral or chamber music.
 
Amane Sakaguchi (b.1998) is professionally known as “Kosaburo Kineya” in her shamisen performances.
Born to a musician family succeeding the art of “Nagauta” music for over 200 years in Tokyo, Sakaguchi began her professional career as a shamisen player at 14 and announced to succeed the stage name “Kosaburo Kineya Ⅳ” at 20.
 
Her unique musical background made her interested not only in Nagauta music but also in other genres of music. She started playing the piano at 4 and won several prizes at domestic and international competitions. She is now involved actively in both shamisen and piano performances. 
 
She has played shamisen as a leading player in historical theaters such as Kabuki-za (Tokyo), Minami-za (Kyoto), and Hakata-za (Fukuoka).
 
She started composing Nagauta music when she was an undergraduate student at Tokyo University of the Arts. All her compositions have been performed again. She also learns Western composition under Dr. Kyle Blaha, a faculty member at the Juilliard School.
 
She plays shamisen in some TV programs including the Japanese historical TV drama series “Dosuru-Ieyasu (What are you going to do, Ieyasu?)” By NHK (Japan’s public broadcaster). She has also explored opportunities to collaborate with musicians of different genres such as Rock, Classical, etc. She sometimes arranges and incorporates some phrases from traditional Nagauta to fit into other music genres.
 
With her broad interests and knowledge of both Japanese and Western music, she is not wedded to her traditional background but always enjoys looking into new perspectives of shamisen.

​

She is a trilingual speaking Japanese, English, and German🇯🇵🇬🇧🇩🇪