In the Nara Era (8th century) the koto (so) was brought from China as one of the instruments used in Gagaku. Yatsuhashi Kengyo, a remarkable maestro of the Edo era had established two playing styles of koto; rokudan and midare. Both styles are still the basis of Japanese koto playing to this day. The year Yatsuhashi died, Bach and Handel were born.
