the.com/koto
Japan's thirteen-stringed wooden dragon, played with claws and centuries of patience.
means A traditional Japanese zither, typically about six feet long with thirteen silk or nylon strings stretched over movable bridges, plucked with picks worn on the fingers.
from From Japanese 琴 (koto), an old native word for stringed instruments. The same character is read 'kin' in Sino-Japanese borrowings, reflecting the instrument's deep ties to Chinese court music — the koto descends from the Chinese guzheng, brought to Japan more than a millennium ago and reshaped over centuries into its own distinct voice.
- player wears
- Picks like talons fitted on three fingers
- movable bridges
- Wooden frets slide to retune entire scales
- its size
- Stretches roughly six feet of paulownia wood
- national instrument
- Officially Japan's, dating back over a millennium
- shape origin
- Body modeled after a reclining dragon
koto no irori — 13-string japanese zither played in traditional court music since the 8th century
goto tsuguhito — japanese koto master who pioneered modern compositions in the 20th century
miyako odori — kyoto geisha dance performance featuring koto music since 1872