Taki Rentaro

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This is a Japanese name; the family name is Taki.

Taki Rentaro (滝廉太郎, August 24, 1879 - June 29, 1903) was a pianist and one of the most well-known composers of Japan.

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 Koujou-no-tuki (荒城の月), which was included in the songbook for junior high school students, along with the Hakone-Hachiri (箱根八里). Hana (花, meaning "Flower") is a well-known song, too.

In the same year, Taki went to Germany to study music further, but fell seriously ill with tuberculosis of the lungs and came back 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), which he wrote four months before he died. It is said that he laid the meaning of "regret" in the title of his last piece.