Rentarō Taki

Rentarō Taki (滝 廉太郎, Taki Rentarō, 24 August 1879 – 29 June 1903) was a Japanese pianist and composer of the Meiji era.

Taki was born in Tokyo, but moved to many places during his childhood owing to his father's job. He graduated from the Tokyo Music School in 1901. One of his famous pieces is "Kōjō no Tsuki", which was included in the songbook for junior high school students, along with the "Hakone-Hachiri" (箱根八里). "Hana" (花, "Flower") is also a well-known song.

In the same year, Taki went to the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany for further studies, but fell seriously ill with pulmonary tuberculosis and therefore returned to Japan. He lived quietly in the country afterwards, but soon died at the age of 23. His posthumous work is a solo piano piece called "Urami" (憾, "Regret"), which he wrote four months before he died.

Thelonious Monk included a version of "Kōjō no Tsuki" on his 1967 album for Columbia entitled Straight, No Chaser.

German rock band Scorpions did a cover of "Kōjō no Tsuki" on the 1978 album Tokyo Tapes.

Argentinean folk group Los Cantores de Quilla Huasi recorded a version of "Kōjō no Tsuki".

Anne Akiko Meyers recorded several versions of "Kōjō no Tsuki".

New Age pianist George Winston recorded "Kōjō no Tsuki" for his 2004 album Montana – A Love Story.