THIS is the thirteen-stringed Sono Koto of Japan, and a very beautifully-ornamented specimen, lent for drawing by Mr. George Wood, of Messrs. Cramer and Co., Regent Street, London.

The strings of the koto are, as in all Japanese stringed instruments, of silk drawn through wax, and the accordance follows the pentatonic system already described in connection with the Siamisen, and as given by Mr. Isawa, Director of the Institute of Music at Tokio, in twelve different popular pentatonic accordances, which are the foundations for, but, as will be explained, do not exactly fix the intervals of the koto player's performances. The strings are equally long and thick, and are strained to one tension, the notes being obtained by means of movable bridges, of which there are as many as there are strings. Two strings, the first and third, are tuned alike, at the interval of a fifth above the second or lowest note. The tuning is generally done by ear note by note, the player pitching the instrument to his voice, which is good if a high voice. The classical Japanese music is Chinese, and may have come to Japan with Chinese art, through the Corea. It is, however, only played in the Imperial household or the Shinto temples. Both classical and popular music are pentatonic, but the Japanese in no way avoid semitones, which give the Chinese so much trouble when they endeavour to produce them. The koto player, in performing, squats very low upon the ground, and wears plectra-like wire thimbles on the right hand, terminating in small projections of ivory, touching with them only the shorter division of the strings. He has, however, the power, by pressing down the longer unsounded lengths with the ends of the fingers of the left hand, or pulling them towards the bridges, to increase and decrease the tension of the strings, and thus sharpen or flatten the notes and modify the tuning by intermediate tones—a licence not used unsparingly. The Japanese pictures of koto players invariably show this practice. The dimensions of this Koto are, approximately: length, 6 feet 2½ inches; width, 8¾ to 9¾ inches; depth, about 1¾ inches at the sides. The instrument is made of strong Kiri wood, and has two openings on the under side. The beauty of the ornament of the instrument drawn could hardly be surpassed. The drawing shows enlargements of the two ends, one half the actual size, and displays the highly decorative adornment of this remarkable instrument.

The favourite popular tuning of the Koto is called Hira-dioshi. It is thus given by Mr. Isawa and other authorities:—

music

The music-master at the Japanese Village, Knightsbridge, London, tuned the Koto to a Siamisen (Plate XLVII.), with the pentatonic intervals marked on the neck according to a peculiarity of intonation referred to in the description of that instrument.

XLVII