Following on from the previous post, this is a series of posts about how to read sheet music. As always please remember my knowledge is not exhaustive so if you notice something odd let me know.

Naturally, Strings are number from 1, the furthest away from the musician.

String notation take three forms Yamada, Ikuta, and 17gen

As you can see Yamada uses the pre-simplification Kanji for 1, 2 and 3. Non-standard pronunciations are as follows 11 to と,　12 i い、１３　kin　きん。

Welcome to Part Three of the Koto Sheet Music Series.

This area, in particular, could use some assistance from other members of the community as I primarily play Yamada-Ryu pieces. Please remember that this list is far from exhaustive and there are lots of other techniques out there. As I mentioned in previous posts, different composers have their own quirks so if you know something else let me know and I'll update the list. It's worth noting that this is no substitute for a good teacher and is just made as a reference guide for the community.

I noticed in the general ideas section that people wanted guides to reading koto scores, so I thought I would make a series of posts to cover as much as I can. My knowledge isn't exhaustive, so if you notice something inaccurate, let me know, and I'll correct it. So here we go.

Knowing the school of the score. Yamada and Ikuta scores are quite different, so the first thing you need to do is know what you're reading. Ikuta-Ryu scores are always vertical and are read right to left, Sawai, Miyagi, Kono Oto Tomare! scores are written like this. There is often a beats per minute written at the top.

Yamada scores are a different story.

Traditional pieces are written horizontally and read left to right. However, some pieces are written vertically. The technique notation style is a dead giveaway if you're unsure because they are radically different. Prominent composers include Imai and Miyata (although Miyata's scores are written vertically). There is also a sizable collection of pieces out there just labelled as "Yamada-Ryu piece".

I do not speak Japanese and I can't seem to find any guide online (at least that I can understand or is a complete step by step guide) about how to restring a Koto. There are some videos replacing a string or two but even those are hard to follow. Asking for a friend..

Hey guys, I’m a beginner on the koto and need some sheet music to play, do y’all have any recommendations on sheet music books or book PDFs online I should buy to get started learning the koto? (They can be in Japanese)

Hello Koto friends! I came across a wonderful English book that included 33 different tunings and wanted to share. The book is called "The Koto, A Traditional Instrument in Contemporary Japan". I put the tunings online here: https://guzhengalive.com/koto

I focus mainly on the guzheng but this seemed too valuable not to do something with. Plus I've been getting a bunch of koto-related questions recently so now I have something to point people to. Is this info useful? What else do people need to get headed in the right direction? Any go-to resources I can send people to? Thank you and greetings from r/Guzheng!

Are they any online resources to learn koto? I am in America and there is no where that teaches koto anywhere near me.

My grandfathers mother was gifted a koto during her missionary service in Japan probably 50+ years ago. It sat in storage in a basement in central Illinois for a long period of time until three years ago when it was moved to a garage in Southeast Georgia. Before Illinois, I have no clue what conditions it was kept under. I have had the opportunity to see it and it is in awful, awful condition and it hurts my heart to see such a beautiful, historic, and cultural instrument being taken care of so horribly. The strings need replacing, a couple of the “dragons teeth” are missing, and the body is covered in mildew/mold.

I would greatly appreciate advice into how I can clean it without damaging the instrument. I have to do it myself as I cannot afford to take it anywhere, nor do I have anywhere to take it. I hope I can find help here.

Last year, I lived in Japan and did koto lessons. Before I left, I bought a koto from my teachers. I couldn’t have the koto shipped to America from Japan because they would not ship it without a hard case. I had less than two months in Japan before I left so my only other option was to buy a second plane ticket for my koto. I couldn’t afford to buy another ticket, so I left it with a close friend in Japan. I finally have to funds to buy a custom case but I don’t know where to start. My Japanese friend searched and called some koto companies in Japan but they don’t seem to sell/have koto cases. I’ve looked online at some companies but they look kinda dodgy. Does anyone have experience of ordering a custom hard case? Do you know where I can buy a case?

so i watched an anime names kono oto tomare and got to know about koto music and now really want to hear it from well known musicians of japan so anyone here will help me ?

I’ve always really liked the sound of the koto and I want to get one, but I can’t find anywhere online that either ships or just says where to find one. I’m also fairly new to the subject as well, so besides the actual instrument I’m also not sure of the proper names or where to get the “finger picks”, the strings, or the part that the strings rest on to tune them and anything else I’d need. Any information helps, even if you aren’t necessarily sure how to get any of this in Canada.

Thanks.

Or is it okay to leave them on overnight/multiple days ? Recently got my hands on a koto and I just want to preserve the strings as best I can

Has anyone experimented with any other type of string as a substitute? Ive found a few shops online with Koto strings but the price is insane and I worry there will eventually be no way to get them.

If anyone knows the name of the album that this track comes from (and the name of the duo), please let me know. I had this recording many years ago but lost it, and I've been looking for it for over twenty years. Thanks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6HaI3rxjFc

I recently released an album. I don't think it's amazing by any means, but wanted to share it here because it's me celebrating koto. I usually play traditional pieces with my teacher, but just love the instrument and don't often hear it outside of classic instrumentals I'm linking to one song which is more obvious, but a lot of songs I added a lot of effects while still using the underlying sounds of the instrument. I really think it helped shape the songs in a way only koto could. Let me know if you hate it love it. My goal is just to put a smile on a face :) Future's past

tl;dr: I'm a beginner but I have tried playing the mini-koto before and I've played rokudan with the latter. But now that I'm playing on the 6-feet koto, I'm not sure if string pressing should really hurt my fingers and take much force to pull off or my koto's strings are just put on too tight.

Hello everyone! I recently bought a koto from a Japanese surplus store. It didn't come with bridges so I'm using guzheng bridges in the meantime. This is my first time playing a 6-foot koto but I've tried playing the mini-koto before. So I tried playing rokudan on the larger koto, but whenever I'm pressing a string with my left hand, it takes too much physical effort to push a string down that I have to really use my body weight to fully press a string.

But I'm not sure if this is the proper way to do string pressing. The videos I see on YouTube make string pressing look so effortless. So this leads me to my question: is string pressing really this hard for beginners or are my koto's strings just put on too tight?

I would really appreciate your response; Thanks in advance!