In 1964, he founded the ensemble “Nihon Ongaku Shūdan (Japanese Music Group)” and he acted as its music director for the following 20 years while carrying out more than 160 concerts overseas. He composed many ensemble works for traditional Japanese instruments, such as “Kodai Bukyoku ni yoru Paraphrase (Paraphrase based on ancient Dance)”, “Yon gun no tame no Keishō (Images for Four Groups)”, “ 凸 (Convex)”, “Wa (Ring)” and “Hote (Big Fire)”, and in 1970 the record album “Miki Minoru’s Music by Nihon Onagaku Shūdan” won the Grand Prize at the National Arts Festival. Miki took part in the invention of a new instrument, the ‘Nijūgen koto (20 string koto)’ which later was added one more string, and he composed many pieces for this instrument. In 1981, he completed “Kyū no kyoku”, which was commissioned for the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Gewandhaus orchestra, and he presented “Hōō Sanren (Eurasian Trilogy)” which brings together the two pieces “Jo no Kyoku” and “Ha no kyoku”. In 1983, Miki wrote “Saikō Jokyoku (Overture for colorful Rainbow)” for the dual ensemble of Nihon Ongaku Shūdan and Chūō Minzoku Gakudan, and ten years later he launched the ‘Orchestra Asia’ which consisted of ethnic instruments from Japan, China, and Korea.
