Confucius Music therefore plays an important part in the governing of individual and collective living. Yellow bell changed with dynasty change Music has almost magical powers.
Music frequently has symbolic meaning.
The koto is a plucked string instrument that is a member of the zither family, and has 13 strings suspended lengthwise across moveable bridges on a rectangular wooden box. Moving the bridges along the strings allows the koto to have different tunings. The koto player affixes picks, or plectra, to the thumb and first two fingers of the right hand to pluck the strings. The koto is very popular in Japan. Besides being featured in Japanese court music, or gagaku, the koto accompanies singers and performs solos.