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Masayoshi Takanaka[a] (born March 27, 1953) is a Japanese musician and record producer. Known for his virtuosic guitar playing and skilled musicianship, Takanaka rose to fame and achieved commercial success during the 1970s and 1980s.[2] He composes and performs across various different music genres. In a career spanning over 50 years, Takanaka has released more than 20 albums and continues to perform.
Takanaka was born in the Akabane district in Kita, Tokyo, to a Chinese father from Nanjing and a Japanese mother whose surname was Takanaka. His father immigrated to Japan after World War II and later married his mother. Soon after Masayoshi's birth, the family moved to Ōimachi in Shinagawa, where they ran a mahjong parlor called Sangenkaku in the local shopping district.
When he was in the fourth grade, Masayoshi was naturalized as a Japanese citizen, changing his name from Masayoshi Liu (劉 正義) to Masayoshi Takanaka (高中 正義).[3] He began his formal education at Ono Gakuen Elementary School, a private institution, but transferred to Musashi Institute of Technology Junior High School (now Tokyo City University Junior High School) since Ono became an all-girls school at the secondary level. Although he spent most of his time playing guitar, his grades remained excellent. He attempted to transfer to Hibiya High School in order to pursue Tokyo University, but due to the group school assignment system in place at the time, he was instead placed at Kudan High School, a result he found disappointing. He opted instead to remain on the internal track and attend Musashi Institute of Technology High School.
Takanaka was introduced to music at a young age; his parents had records at home. Located near his home were dance halls where people learned to dance, especially Latin dances like the cha-cha-cha and the mambo, as his mother had particularly enjoyed those genres. In addition, his house was right next to a late-night café, so there was always music playing. He recalls going to sleep while hearing the vibrations of "Mambo No. 5".[4]
Early on, Takanaka was only familiar with Japanese music, listening to Hibari Misora and the Crazy Cats. When he was around sixth grade, Takanaka's elder brother introduced him to the Beatles and the Ventures. Together they watched A Hard Day's Night (1964) and it was to Takanaka's shock to learn about Western music after having only known about Japanese music for so long. Soon after, he asked for an electric guitar and started taking lessons.[4]
Takanaka's first guitar was a cheap Japanese one by the brand Teisco. Initially, he did not have an amp. Since he could not read music, he bought a book which taught him how to play guitar. However, the examples were all children's songs and simple guitar exercises.[4] Around this time, Takanaka's musical tastes shifted towards Cream, Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin, whom he tried to emulate. However, he has said his biggest influence was Alvin Lee of Ten Years After.[5]
After school, there were kids who were older than Takanaka that would take over his classroom and have band practice. He would watch them and learn their techniques. While initially only observing, he started to improve at playing guitar; some of the older kids would ask him to play with them. He would even join them in going to a kissaten after school.[4]
The first time Takanaka was on stage was at a Christmas party with some of the older classmates. He also took part in band contests from as early as ninth grade. However his band did not make it past the first round.[4]
Career
Debut
In the late 1960s, Takanaka joined a band called Escape, performing regularly at U.S. military bases around Tokyo.[4] In winter 1970, at 17 years old, he played in a band named The Evil, with whom he recorded what are currently the earliest known live recordings of his playing. These performances took place at the AIRMAN'S Club in Fuchū, and consisted mainly of covers of Grand Funk Railroad and Jimi Hendrix.[6]
His first professional break came in his senior year of high school during a concert by the band Apryl Fool. One of the members, drunk onstage, shouted to the crowd, "Can someone play guitar for me?" Without hesitation, Takanaka, still wearing his school uniform, jumped onstage and played. That spontaneous moment marked the beginning of his professional music career.[7]
He soon joined Hiro Yanagida's group and performed as a backing musician at Nobuyasu Okabayashi's "Kurui-zaki" self-written/self-performed concert at Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall in July 1971. In August, he supported Strawberry Path, a band led by Shigeru Narumo and Hiro Tsunoda, at the Hakone Aphrodite rock festival. A month later, he officially joined the group, which was then renamed Flied Egg.
Although he wanted to play guitar, he was initially assigned to bass, against his will. Under Narumo's mentorship, Takanaka received daily lessons in music theory and guitar technique, which laid the foundation for his later style. Simultaneously, through Narumo's introduction, he began working as a studio bassist, and later guitarist, kicking off his professional life in the recording industry.[4]
For a lot of the projects he was a studio musician on, a lot of freedom was given to him. Based on simple instruction, he would improvise which enabled him to showcase his guitar playing.[4]
Sadistic Mika Band
In 1972, after Flied Egg disbanded, he joined the Sadistic Mika Band[1] formed by Kazuhiko Kato. They released their debut self titled album in 1973, and from there he began working as a professional guitarist, where he began to develop his unique style.
Around this time Takanaka started listening to different types of music. In the beginning, it was mostly British artists like T. Rex and David Bowie. He was also a fan of Santana. After that, he got really into Black artists like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. Up to that point, most of the music he played had been in an 8-beat style. But around that time, he started to appreciate the complexity and appeal of the 16-beat rhythm.[8]
The band's second album, Kurofune, was recorded in England and released on November 5, 1974. The album sold poorly but is now considered a milestone in Japanese rock. In September 2007, Rolling Stone Japan ranked it number 9 on their list of the "100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time".[9]
The band fragmented after the divorce of two of its main members. After the Sadistic Mika Band disbanded in 1975, he formed the Sadistics with remaining band members Yukihiro Takahashi, Tsugutoshi Goto, and Yutaka Imai. The following year, in 1976, he released his first solo album, Seychelles, and since then he has continued to pursue Sadistics and solo activities. The other members also began to place more emphasis on their solo activities.
Solo career
After the Sadistics disbanded, he began working as a solo artist, releasing one or two solo albums every year, consisting mainly of his own original songs and guitar instrumental songs. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Takanaka continued his output, releasing over twenty albums and singles under Kitty Records until 1984 and EMI from 1985 to 2000. In 1982, Saudade reached number one on the Oricon Albums Chart.[10] In 2000, he formed his own record label, Lagoon Records.[11][12]
Marquee advertising Takanaka's 2025 concert in Los Angeles
Takanaka is known for his flashy guitars, including a gold colored Fender Stratocaster. He also has a trademark "lagoon-blue" Yamaha SG guitar that he plays during live performances.[13] In 2004, at his performance in Crossover Japan '04, Takanaka unveiled his iconic custom-made surfboard guitar.[14][15] In this performance, the surfboard is painted light blue with his name in cyan text, however it would later be changed to red with white text. This guitar was used in a 2008 performance of "Beleza Pula" at Super Takanaka Live, one of Takanaka's most popular concerts, and has since become highly famous across the world due to its unique design. In 2014, at the 13th Tokyo Jazz Festival, Takanaka also demonstrated a custom-built guitar which featured a model train set.[16]
Takanaka has enjoyed a global resurgence in popularity since the mid-2010s, driven largely by younger audiences outside Japan discovering his music online.[21][22] His 1981 song "Penguin Dancer" was sampled by Grimes on her song "Butterfly" in 2015.[23] His 1979 song "Blue Lagoon" was named the 14th-best guitar instrumental by Young Guitar Magazine in 2019.[24][25][26] In 2025, he performed two sold out shows at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles in his first US performance in 40 years. Takanaka was visibly surprised and entertained by his frenzied reception.[22][20]
In April 2026, he began his first world tour featuring shows in London, Brooklyn, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland. All of the shows sold out almost instantly.[27][28]
↑アルバム『SAUDADE』の40周年を記念した高中正義の全国ツアー 9月よりスタート[Masayoshi Takanaka's Nationwide Tour Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of His Album Saudade Starts in September]. Guitar Magazine (in Japanese). September 3, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2025.
12岡林信康、レコード・デビュー45周年！ 初期URC時代の作品13タイトルが一挙再登場[Nobuyasu Okabayashi Celebrates 45th Anniversary of Record Debut: A Comprehensive Reissue of 13 Early URC-Era Works]. CDJournal.com (in Japanese). Tokyo: CD Journal. March 1, 2013. Retrieved May 12, 2026.
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