The short version
- Search Japan's National Diet Library and CiNii, the university library catalogue, for Kitaro and you get everything from a 1981 book to a 2024 CD.
- This piece reports only what the catalogue records say: title, publisher, year and physical description. We have not handled the items, so we say nothing about what is in them.
- The same pair of episodes from the second series of NHK's Silk Road is catalogued three times, in 1987, 2000 and 2005. The listed running time is 100, 95 and 98 minutes.
- The university libraries also hold Kitaro records issued by the German label Kuckuck.
In June 1981 Kodansha published a book of 222 pages. Its title was Kitaro: Maindo myūjikku no sekai, Kitaro and the world of mind music. The National Diet Library lists the author as "喜多郎, 1953-". Of everything we pulled, it is the earliest book with Kitaro's name in the title. What the book says, the catalogue cannot tell you. A catalogue record stops at title, year and page count, and so does this piece.
What we searched
On 7 September 2026 we pulled records for the name 喜多郎 from the National Diet Library search API and from CiNii. CiNii alone returned 143, and Japan Search, the national portal, 270. Not all of them are the musician. Someone of the same name wrote a guide to collecting minerals, and someone else co-wrote papers on photonic crystal gratings in 2012. We kept only the musician's lines.
One thing to know before reading them: CiNii files video discs and records alike as "book". To find out what an item really is, you read the physical description, not the type.
1981 and 1984: a book and a score
In 1983 his name is one of twelve listed alongside 広中平祐 in a book of conversations from Kōsei Shuppan, Hironaka Heisuke soshin taidan. The year after, the sheet music starts. In August 1984 NHK's publishing arm, Nippon Hōsō Shuppan Kyōkai, issued a book of Silk Road piano pieces. The physical description reads "2 vols", each with its own ISBN, and a second name, 林知行, appears beside Kitaro's. In October 1985 the music publisher Doremi followed with the NHK Silk Road themes arranged for Electone, and in 1988 with a Kitaro "best sound" collection for electronic organ. The Silk Road, played at home on an organ.
Magazine pieces are in there too. In February 1984 the magazine Ushio ran an article by 徳丸壮也 titled "Kitaro: the psychic who spins all creation into sound". In February 1994 Kinema Junpō carried a piece under the names of Kitaro and 賀来卓人 with "天と地" in its title. In February 2004 he was the guest in instalment 205 of Mariko Hayashi's interview series, "Mariko no koko made kiite ii no kana".
Two episodes, three times
What takes up the most room in the catalogue is video from NHK's Silk Road documentary series, with Kitaro's name listed alongside the producing bodies. Follow one item. From the second series, "The Road to Rome", two episodes were issued together: "Ajia no hate, kinu no machi" and "Subete no michi wa Rōma ni tsūzu".
- Publisher Pioneer LDC. One video disc, 100 minutes. CiNii holds 15 Silk Road lines from the same publisher that year.
- Published by NHK Software, sold by Pony Canyon. One video disc, 95 minutes.
- Published and sold by NHK Enterprises. One video disc, 98 minutes.
The same two episodes came out three times in 18 years, and the running time in the record shifts each time. The catalogue does not say why. Also in 2000, the China episode of the NHK Special Four Great Civilisations was catalogued as one video cassette, 59 minutes, and Kitaro's name is on that one as well. In 2012 NHK Enterprises issued the "Dunhuang" volume as one video disc, 148 minutes, in a series called "NHK DVD".
Records in the catalogue
The university libraries hold several releases on the German label Kuckuck: Oasis and Kitaro in Person in 1982, Tunhuang and Silk Road Suite in 1983, Best of Kitaro in 1985. The Silk Road Suite record also names the London Symphony Orchestra and Paul Buckmaster. How Kitaro's music came to Germany in the first place is in our Kitaro guide.
The National Diet Library has kept a record of his Japanese releases year after year. The earliest is In Person on Canyon Records, with the year given in brackets as [1980]. In October 1986 comes Asia on Sound Design Records, subtitled "Kitaro Asia Tour Super Live". May 1993 brings Iriomote-jima: rakuen no mori on Nippon Columbia. July 2017 has Silk Road Best on Pony Canyon. In January 2018 Nippon Columbia's compilation NHK tabi no ongakushū lists 31 names; the second is Isao Tomita, and the last is Kitaro.
The most recent is Zen: Live in Katsuyama, released by avex in June 2024. One CD, running time 74 minutes 6 seconds.
What the catalogue leaves out
A catalogue holds no sales figures, no reviews and no sound. It does not say how many copies the book sold, or who sat down at a keyboard with that piano book and what they played. What it keeps is the physical description. Read those lines in order: 222 pages. 2 volumes. One video disc, 100 minutes. One video cassette, 59 minutes. One video disc, 148 minutes. One CD, 74 minutes 6 seconds. Forty-odd years of one musician move from the bookshelf to the disc, to tape, and back to the disc. The catalogue wrote down the order, with dates.
Where to get it
What we read here was library catalogues. The music is on records. The Silk Road music heard in those videos is on the Silk Road series, and which edition to buy is in the Silk Road review.