Shimaguchi Komao

Shimaguchi Komao; April 10, 1911 – March 17, 1945) was a Japanese composer of ryūkōka and gunka.

Biography

Shimaguchi was born in 1911 in the village of Kaizuka, Chiba Prefecture. He was the third son of a family who ran a fishery. Upon finishing elementary school, Shimaguchi moved to Tokyo where, with the assistance of an older brother, he enrolled at a music school.
During his professional career, Shimaguchi was signed exclusively to Nippon Victor, for whom he composed a number of songs which were popularized by the label's singers such as Fujiyama Ichirō, Haida Katsuhiko, and Nitta Hachirō. Shimaguchi also wrote a primer, Becoming a Popular Music Composer: Easy Methods to Write Popular Songs, which was published by in August 1938. His most famous song was "South Seas Mandate, which was released in 1940. However, it gained wider popularity postwar as "Rabaul Ditty", a renamed contrafactum devised by demobilized Japanese military personnel formerly deployed in the Nan'yō region.
After the start of the Pacific War, Shimaguchi was drafted by the Imperial Japanese Navy. He was first deployed to JMSDF [Tateyama Air Base|Tateyama Air Base], then later to Iwo Jima. Shimaguchi died on March 17, 1945, during the Battle of Iwo Jima. His remains were never found, but he left behind a pair of incomplete songs, including "Farewell, Wife and Children".