琴

Japanese zither; stringed instrument; Western instrument

Kanji 1178

The koto (Japanese zither) connects to dragons, blindness, class differences, rice paddies, marriage, and an important myth. Find out why one needs to read each 琴 in 琴の琴 with different yomi. See which natural feature in Japan was named after a type of 琴, and learn about hidden kotos in the garden. Also discover certain Japanese words that always pull on people's heartstrings.   

Revision history:

Mar. 22, 2024: 

• p. 14: Deleted a broken link and the surrounding text in the photo caption. Also slightly revised other parts of that caption.
• p. 17, 1st photo caption: Deleted a broken link and the surrounding text.

Feb. 10, 2022: 

• p. 2, Etymology Box: Updated the Henshall etymology, updated the Sears link, improved one image, and deleted the second (as it didn't match Sears's new analysis).
• p. 19: Added a link to the Kanshudo games.

July 8, 2016: Originally published.