Kaoru[guitarist]

Kaoru (薫, , born February 17, 1974, in Hyōgo?) is a Japanese musician and one of the guitarists of Dir en grey. He has been with the band since its inception in 1997 and was previously a member of La:Sadie's. He has composed most of Dir en grey's songs (at least up to the Vulgar album, at which individual credits for the music were dropped). His contributions display a fair amount of variety, ranging from slow ballads such as "Zakuro" to upbeat numbers like "Jessica". He performs many solos for the band, which vary strongly in feeling and tempo, similar to his compositions. Kaoru uses guitar amplifiers and cabinets by Diezel.

Kaoru is endorsed by ESP Guitars in Japan, who provides him with most of his guitars, picks, and straps. In the past, Kaoru primarily used ESP Custom Shop guitars from his signature-series, Ganesa. Recently he has stopped using the Ganesa guitars and switched to the Viper series, in which he has his own custom model, the D-KV-420.Recently a limited edition edwards version of his D-KV is being sold.

ESP has released several replicas of Kaoru's signature guitars in Japan through the ESP and Edwards product lines. The ESP artist series offers replicas of the D-KV-420 and the Ganesa II. Edwards offers a miniature Ganesa and replicas of the Ganesa IV and VIII.