Award-winning composer Akira Miyoshi died of heart failure Friday at a Tokyo hospital, his agency said Saturday. He was 80.
Miyoshi composed a wide variety of music featuring a mixture of Japanese and western techniques, ranging from symphony and chamber music to choral works, including "Kaze no Torimichi" ("The Path of Wind") with lyrics by poet Shuntaro Tanikawa.
He won the Otaka Prize for composition several times, as well as the Mainichi award for art, while his operatic work "Toi Ho" ("Distant Sail") landed him the Suntory Music Award in 2000.
The following year he was recognized and honored by the government as a Person of Cultural Merit.
A Tokyo native, Miyoshi served as president of Toho Gakuen School of Music and as head of Tokyo Bunka Kaikan.
