TaishÅgoto
The Nagoya harp, also called Taishōgoto, is a Japanese musical instrument. The name of Nagoya harp is due to the origin of the instrument, the name Taishogoto (or Thaisho koto ) is composed of Taisho, the imperial era from 1912 in which it was created and a similar Japanese Koto instrument. The Taishogoto serves as a solo or ensemble instrument
History
The Taishogoto was developed in 1912 by the musician Goro Morita in Nagoya. He had received a scholarship from the first Prime Minister of Japan and studied from 1906 two years musical instruments in Europe and the USA and was then hit on the idea to combine the mechanics of a typewriter with an instrument.
Design
The Taishogoto is a kind of zither. It consists of one long sound body with strings stretched over them. It has several vertebrae, which are used to tune your instrument and are very similar to those of an acoustic guitar. The strings of the instrument are not pressed his fingers on the fretboard, but by typewriter-like keys that lead to metal strands across the strings. These buttons are operated with the left hand while the right hand with a plectrum strikes the strings. The instrument is built in different sizes: soprano, alto, tenor and bass.