Kitaro (喜多郎 KitarÅ) (born as Masanori Takahashi (高橋æ£å‰‡ Takahashi Masanori) on February 4, 1953 in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, Japan) is a composer and multi-instrumentalist. His pseudonym "Kitaro" was given later by friends because of a Japanese television cartoon character named Kitaro, from Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro. He is the son of shintoistic farmers.