Tadao Sawai (沢井忠夫) was born in Aichi Prefecture, Japan in 1938. His father was a shakuhachi performer and at around the age of 10 Sawai began to study the koto. In 1958 he graduated from the traditional music department of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. In 1959 he was chosen by the Japanese national broadcasting company NHK as the best new performer, and from that time forward he began to be active as a performer and composer of contemporary music. He has performed widely throughout Japan and the world and his compositions are among the most widely performed in the koto world. He passed away on April 1, 1997. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.