Resident Evil, Onimusha composer admits he didn't write his music

The deaf composer known as "Japan's Beethoven" has admitted that he has been hiring a ghost composer for more than 10 years.

Japanese composer Mamoru Samuragochi, known as the Beethoven of Japan, has confessed to hiring another composer to pen some of his most beloved works for more than 10 years, The Japan Times has reported.

Samuragochi, now 50, went completely deaf at the age of 35, but continued to release compositions. He became famous for composing the score for the director's cut of the original Resident Evil, as well as the first Onimusha title, Warlords, in 1997 and 2001 respectively. In 2003, he completed Symphony No 1, also known as the Hiroshima Symphony, which became popular throughout Japan in 2001 as an anthem of hope after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Through his lawyer, Samuragochi — the son of atomic bomb survivors — admitted that the Hiroshima Symphony, as well as the Sonatina for Violin he composed to accompany Japanese ice skater Daisuke Takahashi's performance at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, were written by someone else.

The lawyer, who wished to remain anonymous, said, "I've been told that there are certain circumstances that make it hard for the person (who composed the works) to come out in public, and Samuragochi has come to describe himself as the sole composer. [He] says it is totally inexcusable and he deeply regrets (what happened). He is mentally distressed and not in a condition to properly express his own thoughts."

The release of one of Samuragochi's scores, scheduled for next week, has now been cancelled, and plans for the future of his concert tour of Japan are now up in the air.

The real composer has not been identified and has not responded to requests for comment.