The koto (箏 ) is a Japanese plucked half-tube zither instrumt, and the national instrumt of Japan. It is derived from the Chinese zhg and se, and similar to the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and ajag, the Vietnamese đàn tranh, the Sundanese kacapi and the Kazakhstan jetig.
Koto are roughly 180 ctimetres (71 in) in lgth, and made from Paulownia wood (Paulownia tomtosa, known as kiri). The most common type uses 13 strings strung over movable bridges used for tuning, differt pieces possibly requiring differt tuning. 17-string koto are also common, and act as bass in sembles. Koto strings are gerally plucked using three fingerpicks (tsume), worn on the first three fingers of the right hand.
The character for koto is 箏 , although 琴 is oft used. However, 琴 (koto) is the geral term for all string instrumts in the Japanese language,
Hashimoto Gut Guitar No.232 1968 Nostalgic & Precious Japanese Guitar Can Be Ship Nationewide 09231970431.., Hobbies & Toys, Music & Media, Musical Instruments On Carousell
Variations of the instrumt were evtually created, and evtually a few of them would become the standard variations for modern day koto. The four types of koto (gakuso, chikuso, zokuso, tagso) were all created by differt subcultures, but also adapted to change the playing style.
The first known version had five strings, which evtually increased to sev strings. The Japanese koto belongs to the Asian zither family that also comprises the Chinese zhg (ancestral to the other zithers in the family), the Korean gayageum, and the Vietnamese đàn tranh.
Wh the koto was first imported to Japan, the native word koto was a geric term for any and all Japanese stringed instrumts. As the number of differt stringed instrumts in Japan grew, the once-basic definition of koto could not describe the wide variety of these instrumts and so the meanings changed. The azumagoto or yamatogoto was called the wagon, the kin no koto was called the kin, and the sau no koto (sau being an older pronunciation of 箏 ) was called the sō or koto.
S Kasuga Made In Japan
The modern koto originates from the gakusō used in Japanese court music (gagaku). It was a popular instrumt among the wealthy; the instrumt was considered a romantic one. Some literary and historical records indicate that solo pieces for koto existed cturies before sōkyoku, the music of the solo koto gre, was established. According to Japanese literature, the koto was used as imagery and other extra music significance. In one part of The Tale of Gji, the titular character falls deeply in love with a mysterious woman whom he has never se before, after hearing her playing the koto from a distance.
The koto of the chikuso was made for the Tsukushigato tradition, originally intded only for blind m. Wom were forbidd from playing the instrumt in the professional world, nor were they allowed to teach it. Wh these strict rules were relieved, wom began to play the koto, with the exception of the chikuso, as its design for the blind led to a decline in use; other koto proved more useful. The two main koto varieties still used today are the gakuso and zokuso. These two have relatively stayed the same, with the exception of material innovations such as the use of plastic, as well as modern material for the strings. The tagso is the newest addition to the koto family, surfacing in the 19th ctury. It was purposefully created to extd the range of the instrumt and advance the style of play. These were made with 17, 21, and 31 strings.
Perhaps the most important influce on the developmt of koto was Yatsuhashi Kgyo (1614–1685). Yatsuhashi was a gifted blind musician from Kyoto who vastly extded the limited selection of only six traditional koto songs to a brand-new style of koto music which he called kumi uta. Yatsuhashi changed the tsukushi goto tunings, which were based on the older gagaku ways of tuning; and with this change, a new style of koto was born. Yatsuhashi is now known as the Father of Modern Koto.
Nghg Mall Genuine Hifi Japanese Yoshio Kimura Classic Guitar Music Pure Music Lossless Sound Quality 3cd
A smaller influce in the evolution of the koto is found in the inspiration of a woman named Keiko Nosaka. Nosaka (a musician who won Grand Prize in Music from the Japanese Ministry of Culture in 2002), felt confined by playing a koto with just 13 strings, and created new versions of the instrumt with 20 or more strings.
Japanese developmts in bridgeless zithers include the one-stringed koto (ichigkin) and two-stringed koto (nigkin or yakumo goto). Around the 1920s, Goro Morita created a new version of the two-stringed koto. On this koto, one would push down buttons above the metal strings like the western autoharp. It was named the taishōgoto after the Taishō period.
At the beginning of the Meiji Period (1868–1912), Western music was introduced to Japan. Michio Miyagi (1894–1956), a blind composer, innovator, and performer, is considered to have be the first Japanese composer to combine western music and traditional koto music. Miyagi is largely regarded as being responsible for keeping the koto alive wh traditional Japanese arts were being forgott and replaced by Westernization. He wrote over 300 new works for the instrumt before his death in a train accidt at the age of 62. He also invted the popular 17-string bass koto, created new playing techniques, advanced traditional forms, and most importantly increased the koto's popularity. He performed abroad and by 1928 his piece for koto and shakuhachi, Haru no Umi (Spring Sea) had be transcribed for numerous instrumts. Haru no Umi is ev played to welcome each New Year in Japan.
Yamaha L 15 Acoustic Guitar Vintage Japanese
Since Miyagi's time, many composers such as Kimio Eto (1924–2012), Tadao Sawai (1937–1997) have writt and performed works that continue to advance the instrumt. Sawai's widow Kazue Sawai, who as a child was Miyagi's favored disciple, has be the largest driving force behind the internationalization and modernization of the koto. Her arrangemt of composer John Cage's prepared piano duet Three Dances for four prepared bass koto was a landmark in the modern era of koto music.
For about 150 years after the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese shirked their isolationist ideals and began to oply embrace American and European influces, the most likely explanation for why the koto has tak on many differt variations of itself.
A koto is typically made of Paulownia wood (known as kiri), although treatmt of the wood varies tremdously betwe artisans. A koto may or may not be adorned. Adornmts include inlays of ivory and ebony, tortoise shell, metal figures, etc. The wood is also cut into two patterns, itame (also called mokume), which has a swirling pattern, or straight-lined masame. The straight lined pattern is easier to manufacture, so the swirl raises the cost of production, and is therefore reserved for decorative and elegant models.
Vintage Japanese Takimine C132s Classical Guitar
Every piece of the instrumt comes with cultural significance, especially since the koto is the national instrumt. The wood is dried and cut into precise measuremts. The size of the soundboard on a standard modern koto has remained approximately 182 ctimetres (72 in), where in the past it ranged from 152 to 194 ctimetres (60 to 76 in).
The bridges (ji) used to be made of ivory, but nowadays are typically made of plastic, and occasionally made of wood. One can alter the pitch of a string by manipulating or moving the bridge.
For some very low notes, there are small bridges made, as well as specialty bridges with three differt heights, depding on the need of the tuning. Wh a small bridge is unavailable for some very low notes, some players may, as an emergcy measure, use a bridge upside down, though this is unstable and not ideal. Bridges have be known to break during playing, and with some older instrumts which have the surface where the bridges rest being worn due to much use, the bridges may fall during playing, especially wh pressing strings. There are, of course, various sorts of patch materials sold to fill the holes which cause the legs of a bridge to rest on an unstable area. About 6 feet (1.8 m) long and 1 foot (0.30 m) wide, the koto is traditionally placed on the floor in front of the player, who kneels.
Takamine Japanese Tp1nc Acoustic Electric Guitar
The strings are made from a variety of materials. Various types of plastic strings are popular. Silk strings, typically yellow in color, are still made, despite their higher price and lower durability than modern strings; some musicians prefer them, perceiving a differce in sound quality to modern strings. The strings are tied with a half hitch to a roll of paper or cardboard, about the size of a cigarette butt, strung through the holes at the head of the koto, threaded through the holes at the back, tighted, and tied with a special knot. Strings can be tighted by a special machine, but oft are tighted by hand, and th tied. One can tight by pulling the string from behind, or sitting at the side of the koto, although the latter is much harder and requires much arm strgth. Some instrumts may have tuning pins (like a piano) installed, to make tuning easier.
The makura ito, the silk thread used in the instrumt, is a pivotal part of its construction. This feature
0 Response to "Japanese Flat Guitar"
Posting Komentar