Live Broadcast Concert with Studio Audience

Sawai Koto Ensemble

– Soul of Japanese Strings –

Sawai Koto Ensamble

THE KOTO is a large, wooden instrument with 13 strings. It's around 160 centimetres to 200 centimetres long and about 20 centimetres across. It has a curved face, and the pitch is adjusted with movable bridges placed under each string. It's played with picks worn on the fingers, similar to those used in playing the guitar. The left hand presses down on the strings to bend notes and create other effects.

Historians think the koto was born around the fifth to third century B.C. in China. Originally it had only 5 strings but increased to 12 strings and then to 13. It was the 13-string koto that was carried to Japan during the Nara period (710-794 A.D.).

Initially, it was played in ensembles with other stringed and wind instruments, but eventually it came to be used on its own. It's also commonly played together with the shamisen and shakuhachi or as accompaniment to songs.

SAWAI KAZUE began studying koto at the age of eight under the legendary Miyagi Michio. She graduated from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and made her professional debut in a joint recital with Sawai Tadao. She has received numerous awards, including one from Cultural Affairs Agency in 1979 for her work with the jushichigen.

The SAWAI KOTO SCHOOL was founded by Sawai Tadao and Sawai Kazue in 1979 to promote their efforts to expand the koto world. They are also pioneers in spreading koto music around the globe, with branches of their school in the United States, Australia, Europe and elsewhere. Their goal is to take the koto beyond the boundaries of traditional Japanese music and develop new means of expression through the instrument. In pursuing this goal they have worked not only with other Japanese musicians from the traditional genres, but major performers from Western classical, jazz, avant-garde, and other world music traditions.

Event Facts

  • Date and time: Thursday 11 September 2003, 19:30–21:30 (including a 15-minute intermission)
  • Location: Studio 2, Radiohuset, Oxenstiernsgatan 20, Stockholm
  • Introduced by: Dr. Christina Nygren, Expert on Japanese Performing Arts
  • Admission: Free (first come, first served; max 200 persons)
  • Organizers: Sveriges Radio and the Embassy of Japan