K. Yoshimatu

Born in 1960 in Yamaguchi City, in Japan’s Chūgoku region, 吉松幸四郎 (Koshiro Yoshimatsu), better known as K. Yoshimatsu, has moved for decades between filmmaking, experimental music and independent production. His name is particularly interesting in music circles because, long before becoming known for his film work in Hiroshima, he was responsible for an astonishing amount of homemade music during the early 1980s. 

 
While studying at Yamaguchi University, Yoshimatsu became involved with the local arts and music scene. Around 1978 he came into contact with Tadashi Kamada through the Japanese communications magazine PUMP. Kamada was developing the idea that music could be shared and created outside the normal commercial system, which eventually led to the formation of the Recycle Circle and, shortly afterwards, the legendary DD. Records. Yoshimatsu became one of the label’s most prolific contributors.

 
His first major musical project was Juma, formed with saxophonist Takafumi Isotani. Yoshimatsu handled vocals, guitar, bass, synthesizers and drum-machine programming, while the group developed a strange mixture of minimal electronics, experimental rock, progressive music, primitive synth pop and ambient textures. Juma recorded six albums for DD. Records during 1981 alone, alongside live recordings and further material released under different names. 

 
At the same time, Yoshimatsu was recording constantly at home. Between 1980 and 1985 he produced roughly forty albums and numerous collaborative projects, using his own name as well as aliases such Setuna. The recordings were made with relatively basic home-recording equipment and could move from electronic pop and minimalism to noise, acoustic experiments, progressive rock, ambient music and tape-based collage. His discography for DD. Records includes titles such as 'p^ls', 'Mirror Inside', 'Physical Fall', 'Euclid Cocoon', 'Spherical Voyage', 'Melancholy Mix', 'Poplar', 'Pastel Nostalgia', 'Life In The Water' and 'Commercial Romanticists'. 

 
DD. Records was a remarkable setting for this activity. Run by Tadashi Kamada, the label issued 222 cassette releases between 1980 and 1985, generally using photocopied artwork and typewritten information, and documenting an eccentric network of Japanese amateur, outsider and experimental musicians. Yoshimatsu retained his original master tapes, carefully archiving the recordings he had made at home, which later made it possible for the material to be rediscovered and reissued decades after its original appearance. 

 
After graduating from Yamaguchi University, Yoshimatsu moved to Hiroshima and increasingly concentrated on filmmaking, while continuing to work with music and audiovisual projects. His connection between the two forms is fairly direct: he has described film as a way of telling stories through images and music as another way of communicating the creator’s ideas beyond words. His film work developed through independent production rather than the conventional Japanese studio system. 

 
Through his Quest Movie Factory project, Yoshimatsu has produced and screened experimental independent films in Hiroshima, as well as music videos and audiovisual performances. His filmography began with 8mm works including "Dreams So Real" (1984), "Easter" (1985) and "Madrigal" (1987), before moving into digital video with films such as "The Spirit of the Left Ear" (左耳の精霊, 2000), "chocolate@fish" (2002), "Kamimai no Shima" (2002), "dead track" (2004) and "Letter" (2008). "The Spirit of the Left Ear "was selected for the 2001 Planet Film Festival and received an award in the Kadokawa Off Theater Competition at the Michinoku International Mystery Film Festival. 

 
His later filmmaking has remained closely connected to Hiroshima and its surrounding landscape, local culture and traditions. Films such as "Kimamori" (きまもり, 2016), "Kumo no Kayoi-ji" (雲の通ひ路), "Kawahira-ko" and "Kaze Sasofu" were produced through Quest Movie Factory, with screenings often accompanied by appearances from the cast and director or small musical events. "Kimamori", for example, was filmed around Yuki in Hiroshima and deals with people carrying different personal problems while searching for ways to reconnect, incorporating the area's landscape, culture and kagura traditions. 

 
For many years the musical side of Yoshimatsu's career remained almost completely hidden outside the small circle surrounding DD. Records. That changed with archival reissues beginning in the 2020s. Bitter Lake Recordings brought material from Juma back into circulation, while Phantom Limb released 'Fossil Cocoon: The Music of K. Yoshimatsu' in 2024 and the three-volume 'Zentai: The Collected Works of K. Yoshimatsu' in 2025, drawing on his extraordinarily productive 1980–1985 home-recording period. 

 
The rediscovery has also brought renewed attention to the relationship between Yoshimatsu's music and his filmmaking. The same interest in homemade technology, visual imagery, unusual textures and unrestricted experimentation runs through both sides of his work, with the music providing an especially detailed snapshot of a young Japanese artist exploring what could be achieved with very limited recording resources and a cassette-based independent network.