English: Illustration from page 265 of THE KOTO..
Caption: "THE KOTO. Quote: "The only Japanese musical instrument taught in girls’ schools is the koto, a kind of zither. As the koto is the most adaptable of all Japanese instruments to western music, it is more readily learnt than others at schools where the piano and the violin are also taught. There are several kinds of koto, the number of strings on them ranging from one to twenty-five; but the one exclusively used at schools has thirteen strings It has a hollow convex body, six feet five inches long and ten inches wide at one end and half an inch narrower at the other, and stands on legs three and a half inches high. The strings are tied at equal distances at the head or broader end and gathered at the other; they are supported each by its own bridge, the position of which varies with the pitch required. Small ivory nails are put on the tips of the fingers for striking the strings. But extensively as the koto is practised by school-girls and ladies of position, the national musical instrument is the samisen, a Japanese variant of the old European rebec which was introduced into the country by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. In the old days it was considered vulgar to play the samisen, which consequently lay long in obloquy and was only to be found among the merchant and lower classes. But now, though the prejudice against it is still strong among old-fashioned people, it is in greater favour than the koto. It is played everywhere, at home, in story-tellers’ halls and theatres, and at every tea-house party.""