Kikuko Kanai has been played on NTS in shows including Tafelmusik w/ Francesco Fusaro, featured first on 16 April 2023. Songs played include Variations On Tensagunu-Hana.

Kikuko Kanai (金井喜久子, Kanai Kikuko, March 13, 1906 – 1986) was a composer of classical music, born as Kikuko Kabira (川平喜久子) on Miyako Island, which today belongs to the Okinawa prefecture of Japan. Aged eight she learned to play the koto (a zither), later she studied the biwa (a lute) and violin, too.

After graduating from the First Public Women's High School of the Okinawa Prefecture Kanai studied singing at the Japanese Music School in Tokyo. Having graduated there, she…