Casiopea (カシオペア, Kashiopea, derived from the name of the constellation Cassiopeia), now known in its fourth iteration as Casiopea-P4, is a Japanese jazz fusion band formed in 1976 by guitarist Issei Noro, bassist Tetsuo Sakurai, drummer Tohru "Rika" Suzuki, and keyboardist Hidehiko Koike.

In 1977, keyboardist Minoru Mukaiya and drummer Takashi Sasaki (ja) replaced Koike and Suzuki respectively.

[1] Starting from 2012, they formed Casiopea 3rd as a spin-off from the original, featuring Kiyomi Otaka on keyboards and returning members, Issei Noro, Akira Jimbo, and Yoshihiro Naruse.

[11] After the end of the Super Flight tour in January 1980, Sasaki left the band and Akira Jimbo would fill the drummer seat in the following month.

[16] The band's first overseas concert was in the United Kingdom in 1983,[17] they since toured in Europe, South America, Australia, and Southeast Asia respectively.

This would become Casiopea's longest running line-up in the band's history (guitarist Issei Noro, keyboardist Minoru Mukaiya, and bassist Yoshihiro Naruse, with drummers Masaaki Hiyama from 1990 to 1992, Noriaki Kumagai from 1993 to 1996, and the returning Akira Jimbo from 1997 to 2006).

In 2000, the band again signed to Pioneer, who would release their 20th Anniversary album (featuring Noro, Mukaiya, Jimbo and Naruse, with former members consisting of Kumagai, Koike, and Sakurai).

[37][38] In 1989, Akira Jimbo and Tetsuo Sakurai formed another group, Shambara, with Kaoru Akimoto and Yurie Kokubu on Vocals, Ryo Kunihiko on keyboards, and Nozomi Furukawa on Guitar.

[20] Jimbo and Sakurai were then given the option of returning to Casiopea, but ultimately decided to continue as the drum and bass duo, Jimsaku.

[40] Just a few months later, Keyboardist Minoru Mukaiya, who had played with Jimsaku previously within Casiopea, joined them and formed the "Katsushika Trio" in 2021.

They followed it up with a new album, Uchuu no Abarenbou (with its English Name officially translated as Wild Guys in the Universe) on September 11, 2024.

With a backing band composed by drummer Hiroyuki Noritake, keyboardists Chizuko Yoshihiro and Shotoku Sasaji, and bassist Chiharu Mikuzuki, the group released 3 albums, 2 in 1988[44][45] and one called "Triptych" in 1998.

[32] In 2009, a director from Tetsuo Sakurai's record company suggested him to make an album for the 30th anniversary of his career, released as My Dear Musiclife.

[65] Sakurai accepted his idea but the director asked him to record "Domino Line" in it, as he played that song as Casiopea's Bassist (throughout 1979 to 1989).