Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto
Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto
Koto musician, teacher, band leader, filmmaker
Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto’s roots in koto music grew from the dusty desert American concentration camps during WWII. Her mother, Barbara Hori (aka Kazuko Muramoto), was incarcerated at 9 years old with her family, yet still learned to play the ancient instrument from fellow internees at Topaz and Tule Lake prison camps. In these desolate prisons, Barbara learned to play the koto by rote, with finger picks made of cow bones and tuning bridges carved by her grandfather from scraps of wood and toothbrush handles. It became the music of survival.
From these humble beginnings, the music of the koto came into Shirley’s family. Later, her mother started teaching the koto in their home in Oakland, CA. From a young age, the music of Japanese koto filled the air, and Shirley naturally heard and learned the music growing up. She also learned the violin and guitar, and was in the school choir in Oakland public schools.
Growing up with Japanese and American classical and traditional music, Shirley longed to play pop music on the koto. She formed her first band, which played tangos and pop music from her koto school in Fukuoka, Japan. However, as a teen in Oakland, R&B and jazz were the genres she longed to play. Eventually she formed the Murasaki Ensemble world jazz group. It was in this group, and with the guidance of her fellow musicians from Western and Middle Eastern styles where she learned to play jazz on the koto and to improvise and play in different meters. Shirley also enjoyed the classical jiuta style of koto and shamisen music, and traveled to Los Angeles to learn to play the shamisen from LA teacher Kazue Kudo of the Miyagi Koto School.
An adventurous seeker of mixing cultural ideas and ways to expand the music of the koto, Shirley has been fortunate to have the experience of collaborating and experimenting with the diverse musicians and artists of the Bay Area. She has performed with musicians such as Pete Escovedo, Lori Lewis, Maurice Jarre, David Grisman, Elias Negash and Joe Craven. As a traditional kotoist she has performed and/or studied with notable koto masters such as Chikushi Katsuko, Kazue Kudo, Keiko Nosaka, Kazue Sawai, Yoko Gates, June Kuramoto, as well as her mother, Kazuko Muramoto.
Because her mother learned the koto during WWII in the American concentration camps, Shirley was curious if others had similar experiences. Shirley has spent decades traveling far and wide searching for artists, musicians, and dancers who could share their experiences of learning traditional Japanese arts while incarcerated in the camps. These interviews culminated in the 2014 documentary film, “Hidden Legacy: Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the WWII Internment Camps” (which can be viewed on YouTube).
Shirley has been asked to present this history with music performances highlighting songs performed and played in the camps that cover not only Japanese music but also American music. From the U.S. to Japan she has talked to students about this subject. Since 2022 Shirley has also been involved with a program educating public elementary school students about the music of the WWII American concentration camps as part of “the Golden State of Song Program”, administered by Pc Muñoz, the Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Freight & Salvage, a music venue and non-profit association. Shirley has received many awards and accolades through the years. The most recent is the 2024 Taproot Fellow, Taproot Artist and Community Trust from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts. Traditional artists are powerful community leaders and changemakers who catalyze social change and connection. The inaugural Taproot Fellowship offers unprecedented support and recognition for traditional artists and culture bearers across the United States and Territories. This year and the next, a total of 50 artists will each receive a $50,000 unrestricted grant, plus an additional $10,000 to allocate toward projects within their community, totaling a $60,000 investment per artist. The Alliance for California Traditional Arts’ Taproot Fellowship is generously supported by the Mellon Foundation. Learn more at taproot.actaonline.org.
Shirley earned her “Shihan” degree (instructor’s credentials) with “Yushusho” (highest) honors and her masters’ “Dai Shihan” from the Chikushi Kai School based in Fukuoka, Japan. Shirley teaches koto privately and through virtual formats using the base curriculum of Chikushi Kai repertoire and traditional koto music. With this diverse musical background of Japanese and Western music, Shirley has composed and written many arrangements for koto to suit the needs of the diverse artists she has collaborated with through the years.
Over the course of her life Shirley has been playing the koto for over 60 years. She has played all over the Bay Area, across the U.S. and in Japan. During the pandemic, she produced streaming programs such as the cultural series “NextGen Geijutsuka: Future Stars of Japanese Cultural Arts”, and “A Tribute to Sahomi Tachibana: American Legacy of a Japanese Dancer” to help people stay connected to each other and the arts. Recently, she curated Japanese koto programs for the Consulate General of Japan, Nikkei Matsuri Festival and the Old First Concerts concert “Music of Kimio Eto”. In 2021, Shirley was asked to curate a virtual program with the San Francisco Symphony, “CURRENTS” series, which was conceived by the late Oakland Symphony conductor Michael Morgan. In February 2022, she performed at SFJAZZ with jazz harpist Destiny Muhammad. In November 2023, she presented a program featuring music and dance which were performed during WWII in the American concentration camps, entitled “Desert Wind and Strings” at the J-Sei Community Center in Emeryville, CA. In 2024, Shirley’s arrangement of “The Star Spangled Banner” and audition videos led to her performing solo for the SF Giants and the Oakland A’s major league baseball teams. In addition to the Golden State Warriors. This year (2025) upcoming will be the Bay FC of National Women’s Soccer League.
Shirley and her colleague, Prof. Minako Waseda of Kunitachi University, are currently transcribing all the interviews from the “Hidden Legacy” film to live on a new website dedicated to the study of Japanese traditional arts as they were practiced in the WWII camps, which will be available to the public in the next year or two. Shirley’s research has made her aware that the performance arts of Japan which used to be so widely practiced in and around the Japantowns are now dying. Her main focus is to make sure these arts continue to the next generations, and strives to teach and spread the beautiful arts of her heritage to survive in our communities.
EDUCATION
1962-1976
Koto instruction, Chikushi Kai, Oakland, CA
1973-1977
UC Berkeley, Bachelor of Arts, East Asian Languages, emphasis on Japanese
1976
Shihan, Teaching Degree with Yushusho (high score) honors, on Japanese koto, Chikushi Kai, Fukuoka, Japan
1979-1981
Instruction on Jiuta Shamisen from Kazue Kudo and Yoko Gates, Miyagi Kai, Los Angeles and Berkeley, CA
2001
DaiShihan, Masters Degree, Chikushi Kai, Fukuoka, Japan
LEADERSHIP AND EDUCATOR EXPERIENCE
1976-present private students
2021-present Teaching koto workshops at the Morikami Museum and Gardens, Delray Beach, Florida.
2021-present Demonstrating music and historical talks about WWII Japanese American incarceration to schools in Berkeley and Contra Costa counties as part of the Golden State of Song, administered by the Freight and Salvage music venue.
1998-2019 Director, Murasaki Ensemble Jazz Group
2006-2010 Willard Middle School and MLK Elementary School in Berkeley, Montclair and Glenview Elementary Schools in Oakland.
1998-2005 UC Berkeley koto classes as part of Prof. Bonnie Wade’s “Music of Japan” and “Music of East Asia” classes.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
2024
Taproot Fellowship
2023
Japanese American Women Outstanding Alumnae of UC Berkeley.
2018, 2024
Finalist in Kenjun Koto Competition, Kurume, Japan
2012
Bunka (Japanese Cultural Arts) Hall of Fame from Hokka Nichibei Kai (Japanese American Cultural Association of America
GRANT AWARDS
2024
2024 Taproot Fellow, Taproot Artist and Community Trust from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts. The Alliance for California Traditional Arts’ Taproot Fellowship is generously supported by the Mellon Foundation. Learn more at taproot.actaonline.org.
2023
Living Cultures Programs, ACTA – Desert Winds and Strings Concert, commemorating the music and dance of WWII Japanese American prisoners in the concentration camps. Featured Bando Hirohichiro, Kyle Abbott, Karl Young, Yuriko Fujita, Brian Mitsuhiro Wong, Emily Kazuchiye Imazumi and Rina Momeny.
2022
Master-Apprenticeship Program from ACTA, also awarded 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022; Alliance for Traditional Arts for several apprentices to train future artists for the continuance of Japanese koto music into the future.
2020
SF Japantown Foundation Grant
Berkeley JACL
2014
City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program – 25th Anniversary of the Murasaki Ensemble
2012
National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant for documentary film, “Hidden Legacy: Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the WWII Internment Camps
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