二階堂和美

Artist

A singer-songwriter from Otake, Hiroshima Prefecture, drawing support at home and abroad for her genre-defying musicality and rare expressiveness, while also serving as a Jodo Shinshu Honganji priest, a rare dual identity. Through her exchange with Studio Ghibli director Isao Takahata, she wrote, composed, and performed Inochi no Kioku, the theme song of the film The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, a quiet yet powerful ballad that prays for the very fact of having been born. The song is widely cited as a core element supporting the heart of the film.