Classical Koto

Although the koto was popular with the wealthy and the Japanese court much earlier, the earliest surviving school of koto music is the Tsukushi-goto from the late 16^th century. It’s repertoire was first made up of court songs accompanied by the koto and sometimes other instruments such as the shamisen. The addition of other compositions formed sets of music called kumiuta, one of the traditional forms of koto music. The koto was further popularized in the 17^th century by the musician Yatsuhashi Kengyo, called the ‘Father of Modern Koto’, who added many new compositions. Also during that time the Ikuto and Yamada schools were formed, both of which remain popular today. The most important type of solo koto music in this period was danmono. This type of music was made up of variation of sections called dan, each generally 104 beats long.