The Japanese koto commonly has thirteen strings, each supported by a movable bridge. Related historically to Chinese zithers, it developed distinct repertoire and performance traditions in Japan. Modern instruments include extended-string forms.
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Strings, bridges and playing
Strings and bridges
Koto with its bridges, Senzoku Gakuen College of Music.
Before pressing (top) and with the string pressed (bottom). 西口・安藤・古知, 2021, fig.2.
Move the bridge: set tuning
Vibrating lengthOne bridge position
Vibrating lengthAnother position
Oshide: change a note while playing
Press on the left↓
Pluck on the right
Tension increasesPitch rises
String-and-bridge schematic; not to scale.
Plucked strings resonate through a hollow wooden body. Moving a bridge changes the vibrating string length to set the tuning. During playing, the right hand plucks with plectra; pressing the string to the left of its bridge increases tension and raises the pitch sounded on the right. This technique, oshide, changes a note during performance rather than resetting the tuning.
Plectra and posture
Square-edged Ikuta plectra. Japan Arts Council.
Rounded, pointed Yamada plectra. Japan Arts Council.
JAC describes square-edged Ikuta plectra and rounded, pointed Yamada plectra, associated with different seating positions. Both use thirteen-string instruments. School identity also involves repertoire and transmission, rather than string count alone. Ikuta players typically sit at an angle to the instrument; Yamada players face it directly.
Following one piece
Yoshizawa Kengyō’s Chidori no Kyoku, about 1855, uses kokin-jōshi tuning. An instrumental opening leads to a first song, a tegoto instrumental section, and a final song. Originally paired with kokyū, the bowed instrument, it is also commonly performed with shakuhachi.
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The development of koto music
From gagaku to later koto music
The koto arrived in gagaku and later accompanied temple songs. Kenjun’s Tsukushi tradition preceded Edo-period Yatsuhashi Kengyō, who developed hirajōshi tuning, reworked song cycles and created instrumental danmono. Kengyō was a rank in the Tōdō organization of blind people.
Singing and instrumental music
Much repertoire combines singing with playing; danmono provides instrumental music without song. Ikuta developed alongside jiuta in Kansai, while late-eighteenth-century Edo’s Yamada tradition incorporated local narrative music. They share repertoire as well as differences.
Modern expansion
Miyagi Michio devised the seventeen-string koto in the Taishō period for ensemble bass parts, enlarging both body and strings. It later gained solo repertoire, including Sawai Tadao’s Hotaru (1980). Inspired by the novel Grave of the Fireflies, the piece responds to the composer’s feelings rather than narrating its plot scene by scene.
Check your understanding
How do moving a bridge and pressing a string differ?
Moving the bridge changes vibrating length for tuning; oshide raises tension to lift a note during playing.
What follows the instrumental tegoto in Chidori no Kyoku?
The final song: singing returns after the instrumental section.
