Ikimonogakari (いきものがかり)[1][2] is a Japanese pop rock duo from Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan consisting of Yoshiki Mizuno and Kiyoe Yoshioka.
Several of their albums have reached number one on the Oricon weekly rankings, and their songs have been featured on various media: from TV commercials, anime shows such as Naruto Shippuden, Japanese TV Dramas such as Women Won't Allow This (「女はそれを許さない」, "Onna wa Sore o Yurusanai"), live action movies such as Time Traveler: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2010) (『映画：時をかける少女』 （2010年）, "Eiga: Toki o Kakeru Shōjo (2010)"), the 2012 Olympic broadcast theme song for NHK, and the set piece for a national junior high music competition.
[3] In 1989, Mizuno and Yamashita met by chance while they were in the first grade; they were both put in charge of being Ikimonogakari (いきものがかり), who are caretakers of the school's plants and animals.
Yamashita and Mizuno formed their band on February 1, 1999, and began performing live on the street; not taking it too seriously, they named it "ikimono-gakari" after their shared experience in first grade.
[4] In those days, Mizuno and Yamashita planned to make a group with a female lead vocalist, which would be an unusual sound for the street performances they were doing.
[citation needed] As their style of music was moving more towards an acoustic focus, they planned to expand their scope to cover not only street performances but live house concerts as well.
In April 2003, the band resumed playing with a street show in front of the Hon-Atsugi Station on the Odakyū Odawara Line.
A person who happened to be attending this performance ended up becoming their manager; this became the impetus for them to launch a major road tour.
[7] On August 25, they released their first indie album, Makoto ni Senetsu Nagara First Album wo Koshirae Mashita.... On March 26, 2005, the band held a show in the small hall at the Atsugi City Culture Building (Atsugishi Bunka Kaikan); this was the first time the band had ever done a single-band show in a hall.
Their second single "Hanabi" was released on May 31, 2006, earning the band their first appearance on the Oricon top 10 chart with a number 5 debut.
On December 31, they debuted in the 59th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen festival which gave them considerable national exposure.
The 2007 Japanese dub of the 2006 American animated film Monster House has "Seishun no Tobira" by the band in the end credits.
That year, Mizuno was put in charge of writing the song "Yell" as the set piece for the junior high division of the 76th annual NHK Nationwide School Music Contest.
The band won one of the Gold Artist awards at the 2009 Best Hit Song Festival (November 26), their first time winning one of the show's prizes.
On June 9, 2012, Japanese television network NHK announced that the theme song for its Olympic broadcasts would be performed by Ikimonogakari.
[15] On January 5, 2017, Ikimonogakari announced an end to its group activities, referring to the forthcoming time as a "grazing period", aiming to extend the possibilities of each member at their own pace for refreshment.
[29] They also performed the opening theme for Power of Hope: PreCure Full Bloom, "Tokimeki" (ときめき, Excitement).
[34] As the Rugby World Cup commenced in Japan, Yoshioka's performance of the song led to international recognition.