The Koto is a harp-like zither about six feet long and nine inches wide made of hollowed out Paulownia wood from the Japanese Kiri tree. The Koto has thirteen strings made out of silk or nylon all of the same length and thickness. Each string is tuned using a moveable bridge made of ivory or plastic. Two sounding holes are bored out of the backboard. Due to the variety of sounds that can be made, the Koto can be played in an impressionistic way to convey images such as water or flowers, and to convey emotions.
How the Koto is played:
The Koto player sits either on the floor or in a chair behind the instrument, which rests on the floor or on a stand. The Koto is played by plucking or strumming the strings to the right of the bridges with three picks (tsume) made of ivory or plastic which are placed on the index finger, middle finger and thumb of the right hand. Traditionally the Koto is tuned in a pentatonic scale (five notes). However, because of the flexible tuning, the instrument can accommodate other scales used in contemporary or European-influenced pieces. The harp-like sound of the Koto renders the instrument suitable for use as a solo instrument or in modern and traditional ensembles. There are many special techniques for playing the Koto which can produce added musical effects such as scraping the strings with the tsume or depressing strings with the left hand on the opposite side of the bridges (melody notes are on the right hand side of the bridges).
