Cleveland Museum of Art
Koto (Zither)
- Date
- early to mid-1800s
- Medium
- Wood with colored lacquer, sprinkled gold powder (maki-e), textile, and silk strings
- Culture
- Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
This koto has an elaborately decorated surface, suggesting that it was meant to be admired as a decorative object rather than played as a musical instrument. The vertical design shows a profusion of chrysanthemum flowers and miscanthus grass above a brushwood fence as well as a pair of butterflies. The koto descended from the guzheng , a Chinese zither first imported to Japan in the seventh century.
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