Pluck the strings with a click, or sweep across them for the cascading glissando the koto is famous for. Click to the left of a bridge to press the string and bend the note up, as the left hand does on a real koto, and play Sakura Sakura in the traditional hirajoshi tuning.
Thirteen strings, thirteen bridges, and the names koto players use for each string: what you learn here carries over to the instrument.
A koto is tuned by sliding its bridges, the ji, along the body. Choose hirajoshi, the classic tuning of koto music, and the bridges line up for its five notes with two half steps; choose yo for the brighter scale of folk songs, or ryukyu for the scale of Okinawa. The bridges move on screen as the tuning changes.
The koto player's left hand presses the string to the left of its bridge, which tightens it and raises the note, a half step or a whole step. Click to the left of a bridge and the note rises a whole tone just after the pluck; on the keyboard, hold Shift. It is how the koto finds the notes between its strings.
Koto strings are not called by notes but by numbers in kanji, from ichi for the first to jū for the tenth, then to, i and kin for the last three. They are written on the instrument and in the tablature of each song, as in traditional koto scores. Switch to note names or computer keys any time.
Koto players wear picks, the tsume, on three fingers of the right hand, and pluck close to the bridge, which gives the koto its bright, ringing attack. GOONS synthesizes a plucked string with that pluck position, and the tiny rise in pitch as the pick lets the string go.
Play Sakura Sakura, the cherry blossom song of the Edo period, in hirajoshi. Two originals written for the koto, Moon Over the Pond and Bamboo Rain, work in every tuning, because they are written in string numbers. Listen first, then play along: the next string glows and waits.
Sweep a finger across the strings on a phone for a glissando. On a computer, the middle row of letters plays the strings from the lowest note up, and the top row continues; Shift presses the string. Keys are read by position on QWERTY, AZERTY and QWERTZ keyboards.
Drag across all thirteen strings from top to bottom: that cascade is the sound of the koto.
String one sits at the top on the tonic; string two is the lowest note, and the notes climb from there.
Click left of a bridge: the note rises a whole tone. That is oshide, the koto's way to reach other notes.
Choose Sakura Sakura, press Listen, then Play along: the next string glows until you pluck it.
| Type | Japanese koto (13-string zither), playable on this page, free |
|---|---|
| Strings | 13 on movable bridges; string 1 on the tonic, strings 2 to 13 from the fifth below upwards |
| Tunings | Hirajoshi (D G A Bb D Eb...), Yo (D G A B D E...), Ryukyu (C F G B C E...) |
| Labels | Kanji string names (ichi to kin), note names, computer keys, or none |
| Playing | Pluck, glissando across the strings, oshide (press left of the bridge, or Shift) up a whole tone |
| Sound | Karplus-Strong plucked string, pick position near the bridge, pitch settle of the pluck, room reverb |
| Songs | Sakura Sakura (traditional), two GOONS originals, folk tunes in the yo tuning; listen and play-along modes |
| Requirements | Any modern browser with Web Audio - Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari |
The koto is the long zither of Japan: a hollow body of paulownia wood about 1.8 metres long, with thirteen strings stretched over movable bridges. It came from China around the 7th and 8th centuries with the court music, gagaku, and became a solo instrument in the 17th century, when the musician Yatsuhashi Kengyō is credited with the hirajoshi tuning and pieces such as Rokudan no Shirabe. The player kneels or sits beside it, plucking with picks on the right hand and pressing the strings with the left.
Because every string has its own bridge, a koto can be retuned in minutes. Hirajoshi gives the in scale, five notes with two half steps, which sounds unmistakably Japanese. Yo, without half steps, is the scale of many folk songs, close to the pentatonic scales heard around the world. Ryukyu, from the islands of Okinawa, brings a major third and a leading note for a brighter colour.
The koto has cousins all over Asia: the zheng of China, the gayageum of Korea, the đàn tranh of Vietnam. On GOONS, try the sitar and its sliding meend, or the kalimba, another instrument of pentatonic scales and gentle plucks.
Yes. The koto at the top of this page is free, with no account and nothing to install. It runs in your browser with the Web Audio API.
The standard tuning of traditional koto music. In D, string 1 is D and strings 2 to 13 are G, A, B flat, D, E flat, G, A, B flat, D, E flat, G and A: five notes that include two half steps, the sound of the Japanese in scale.
Click a string to the left of its bridge: the note sounds and rises a whole tone, as when the left hand presses the string. On the keyboard, hold Shift while you press the key.
They are the names of the koto strings: the numbers one to ten (ichi, ni, san... jū), then to, i and kin for strings eleven to thirteen. Koto scores are written with these names.
Yes. Sakura Sakura is a traditional song from the Edo period, in the public domain. The two other koto pieces are originals written by GOONS.
The koto is free, with no account. GOONS Studio adds a looper, synths, drum machines and a sequencer that play together - free for 7 days, no card required.
Free on this page, no account. Play the online sitar →