(Soundbite of music) INSKEEP: That's composer Miya Masaoka playing the laser Koto. It's a hyped up version of a traditional Japanese stringed instrument that's been around since the eighth century.

Discovering the Music of Japan (1966), written and produced ... and performance techniques of Japan’s three major traditional instruments: the koto, shamisen, and shakuhachi.

Today he sees part of his role here in the instrument's homeland as introducing younger generations to the charms of the koto. “The sound of the koto has a human warmth to it, along with ...

The film features various string instruments from different cultures, highlighting their unique sounds, such as the Japanese koto and the Indian sitar, as well as American mountain music.

“Everyone playing koto or shamisen at a high level ... because Japanese music has never been static. “The instruments themselves have been changing over time, as have the sounds that are ...

Silence, then the performance begins. Textured sounds emanate from the guitar, keyboard, laptop. Then the koto joins in, and a world of sound like nothing you've heard before is created.

But there’s more to the instrument than its status as a ... It also sometimes appears in Japanese classical music, often with a koto (zither) and the three-stringed shamisen.

Once again, configured as a one-stop route to a ‘cinematic sound’, Lotus features new breathy shakuhachi and hichiriki alongside other timeless instruments from Japan such as the delicate plucks of ...

Concerning the new designation of the Tokyo Shamisen and Tokyo Koto—from Tokyo Metropolis and Saitama Prefecture—and the Edo Hyogu—from Tokyo Metropolis and Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa Prefectures—on ...

On the side, he performed music. At a large Asian American community picnic in Griffith Park in the early 1970s, Kuramoto spotted June Okida playing the koto, a zither-like instrument that ...