Chiaki Endo

Endo Chiaki is from Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture. She began learning the koto from her mother, Endo Yuko at the age of three, and when she was 12 she began studying with Sunazaki Tomoko. At the age of 13 she won first place in the children’s division of the 21st Miyagi Koto Association All-Japan Koto Concours. She received both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku (Tokyo University of the Arts). At the time of her graduation, she represented the graduating students in a command performance for the Empress of Japan in the Tokagakudo at the Imperial Palace.
She served as the concert mistress for the Commencement Concert by the 41st class of NHK’s Education Program for Skilled Performers in Japanese Traditional Music, and she passed the NHK Japanese Traditional Music Audition.
She was awarded the highest prize in the 8th All-Japan Nagatani-kengyō Memorial Concours and also received the Emerging Talent Award from MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology).
With her students, she formed the group Crystalline Notes, and they have had six concerts to date. She also performed a concert as the Japanese representative at the ASEM (Asia Europe Meeting) Countries Culture Fair held in Hanoi, Vietnam.