Japan first encountered music from Korea and China around 7th century. In traditional Japanese music, there are three general types of instruments, which are percussion, stringed, and wind instruments. Japanese musical instruments have distinct characteristic that distinguish themselves from western instruments; they are made to enjoy to delicate change of the sound in the small room and that trait can be contrasted to the trait of big concert hall sound made by western instruments. Recently, a growing number of artists are being recognized for bringing these instruments to modern audiences, giving the old instruments new life and energy.

First, the stringed instrument to be introduced is Koto. The koto is probably the most familiar Japanese instrument in the world. In ancient tradition, a kind of koto was used as the symbol of music, one of the attributes of a scholar in the Chinese Confucian tradition. As thirteen strings harp, the koto has pillars, made of Paulownia wood, to support the strips. The strings are all the same length and are attached parallel along the length of the instrument. The pitch is controlled by stretching the string using pillar to transmit the vibration of the string to the body. Using picks on the thumb, first two fingers of the right hand, and the left hand to modify pitch and tone, Koto players perform in an ensemble or as a solo instrument. The left hand alters the sound in various ways, sometimes pressing down on a string firmly on the left side of the bridge to change the pitch of a string, or shaking the strings to produce a kind of vibrato. The string is made of silk, which in fact now polyester is mainly used in replace of expensive silk. Also, movable bridges are called koto bashira, which are placed under each string to produce different tunings when moved. The material for koto bashira was commonly rosewood bridges, but ivory