R.I.P. Mikio Fujioka, BABYMETAL guitarist dies at 36

Photo via Twitter/@BABYMETAL_JAPAN

Mikio Fujioka, the guitarist for Japanese metal idol band BABYMETAL, died on Friday, January 5th at the age of 36. His wife confirmed her husband’s passing on Twitter early Tuesday morning.

According to his wife’s tweets, Fujioka was injured after fallin from an astronomical observation platform on December 30th. His condition deteriorated over the following week until he succumbed to his injuries four days ago. At the time of his death, he was surrounded by his family, including his two daughters.

Known to fans as Ko-Gami, which translates to “The Little God,” Fujioka had been a member of BABYMETAL’s Kami Band since 2013. He graduated from the Musicians Institute of Osaka in 2000 at the age of 19. In addition to playing with BABYMETAL, he worked with the groups Trick Box and MMM, the latter of which featured fellow Kami Band musician drummer Yuya Maeta.

BABYMETAL paid tribute to their late friend with a tweet that read, “We hope that he is now with his GUITAR MASTER A.Holdsworth and enjoying an epic guitar session with him.”