Review: “Ellipse and Skeleton” by Kunihiko Yamashita

(Original posted on April 9, 2002)

The book’s subtitle is “The Conscious Mind of Tetsuya Komuro × The Unconscious Mind of Ryuichi Sakamoto.” It is a uniquely strange and fascinating book that seeks to unravel the secrets behind the sound of their music, extensively quoting from their scores and interview records. One could also call it a documentary that relentlessly pursues what might be termed the intoxicating quality of harmony in tonal music—its sensory beauty.

This work represents the culmination of the author’s career, having previously penned critical analyses of musicians such as Keith Jarrett, The Beatles, and Mr.Children. Boldly advancing his arguments by drawing on Shibao Minami’s “Music’s Skeleton” theory, the author is thoroughly consistent in his attempt to capture in words the wonderful “something” he perceives in their music.

In terms of difficulty, the book is accessible to anyone with a general understanding of chord progression theory. Readers can fully enjoy it simply by playing the musical examples provided. In fact, it could be said that empathy with and understanding of the sounds themselves are what is most important.

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Mr. Yamashita’s books have always exuded a distinctive atmosphere. I believe this is due not only to his coined terms (like “tree chords,” “bamboo chords,” “rainbows and modes”) but also to what I can only describe as his “monomaniacal dedication.”

Previously, Yamashita wrote the major works “Ryuichi Sakamoto: All His Works” and “Ryuichi Sakamoto: A Musical History.” A single read reveals an incredible fixation, demanding a level of mental fortitude from the reader akin to navigating a philosophical treatise, as one retraces the author’s thoughts and images.

However, in this book, “Ellipse and Skeleton,” the atmosphere has completely changed. There’s a sense of detachment, a relaxed impression, and even the more passionate sections are conveyed in a life-sized, relatable manner. Most surprisingly, his writing style shifted from the formal “de aru” to the polite “desu/masu” style. It’s enough to make one wonder, “What could have happened to the author?”

Reading this book, I felt that encountering such a transformation in an author one follows offers a “thrill and excitement” like descending together into the abyss of understanding.

Table of Contents for ‘Ellipse and Skeleton’

Part 1: “Ryuichi Sakamoto X Tetsuya Komuro” ~ Ryuichi Sakamoto’s “Absolute Pitch” and Tetsuya Komuro’s “Relative Pitch”
- Section 1: The Secret of “Energy Flow”
- Section 2: What is “Ryuichi Sakamoto X Tetsuya Komuro”?
- Section 3: “I just learned C, F, and G, and for about two weeks, I’d play and sing every song I knew with just those three chords.” (Komuro)
- Section 7: “It’s an F!! See, feels good, right?” (Tetsuya Komuro’s definition of a “riff”)
- And 9 other sections

Part 2: What Connects “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” and “Energy Flow” ~ Tetsuya Komuro’s Riffs and the “Open Strings” of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Piano
- Section 1: Ryuichi Sakamoto may say, “I don’t really get why that sells,” but…
- Section 4: Tetsuya Komuro’s sus4 or Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Pentatonics?
- Section 16: The “Auditory Illusion” Melodies of Hikaru Utada and Ringo Sheena
- Section 21: “If there were 12 possible notes you could go to, ‘character’ wouldn’t arise anywhere.” (Sakamoto)
- And 21 other sections

Part 3: The Music of “Do-Mi-Sol” and the Music of “Mi-So-La” ~ “The Pentatonic Scale Discriminates Against Asians”
- Section 1: “Komuro would play using only the black keys.”
- Section 2: “The person who composed this is talented. It’s a short melody, but I was amazed.”
- Section 8: Kiyoshiro Imawano’s “Kimigayo” is wrong
- Section 25: The “Experiments” of Debussy and Ryuichi Sakamoto
- And 25 other sections

Part 4: The “Beatles in an Ellipse” Discovered by Tetsuya Komuro ~ “The Blue Note Discriminates Against Black People”
- Section 1: In music, there is no zero, no one; there is only two, that is, an ellipse.
- Section 3: “Subdominant Major” Expresses the Dorian Mode
- Section 5: The “Blues” is Born When the Skeleton (the fourth) is Moved by Muscle (the chromatic scale)
- Section 20: Ahh, this is irresistible!! The pleasure of “G#” is revived across 300 years of history.
- And 22 other sections