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HISTORY It's a requirement of women of samurai class As the Shosoin's treasures include such musical instruments as Chinese koto, Japanese koto, Korean koto, sho, 24-string koto, it is apparent that koto, or Japanese harps, have been played since the Heian period. In those days, however, there was not clear cut definition between kotos and shos. It was the Kamakura period that today's 13-string instrument became known as koto. In Ishikawa, manufacturing koto began after the Edo period. Koto became popular musical instrument as playing a musical instruments became one of samurai class women's requirements. CHARCTERISTICS Appearance is important It is only recently that more attention is directed to koto as musical instrument. There was a time when kotos were regarded as pieces of handicrafts. Many of kotos are made of paulownia and the surface of the bodies are covered with ivories, gold-leaf paintings and mother-of-pearl inlay works. The one kept in the Yokoyamas, who was the chamberlain to the Kaga's lordship, is decorated with elaborately elegant gold-leaf paintings on the whole surface, reflecting Kaga's rich legacies of the handicraftsmanship that have been handed down for centuries. |