The , or Nagoya harp, is a Japanese stringed
musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...
. The name derives from the
Taishō period (1912–1926) when the instrument first appeared. It has also become naturalized in East Africa, often under the name ''Taishokoto''.
History
The ''Taishōgoto'' was developed in 1912 by the musician Gorō Morita in
Nagoya
is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...
. He had received a scholarship from the first prime minister of Japan to study music instruments in Europe and the United States for two years. He subsequently came up with the idea of combining the mechanics of a typewriter with an instrument.
The taishōgoto bears a close resemblance to the ''
bulbul tarang'' from
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, and the
akkordolia
The akkordolia is a zither from Germany and Austria, consisting of a long box, with the strings being pressed against the fretboard by pressing down buttons from above, similar to the Japanese taishogoto. One row of buttons changes the melody ...
from Germany, all sharing the same principle of using keys to press down on strings to change their pitch. It also bears some resemblance to the Swedish
nyckelharpa
A nyckelharpa (, "keyed fiddle", or literally "key harp", plural ) is the national musical instrument of Sweden. It is a string instrument or chordophone. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is depressed, serve as frets to cha ...
for the same reason although the action and the method of playing the strings is very different.
The instrument was used by
Krautrock
Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock
Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...
band
Neu!
Neu! (; German for "New!"; styled in block capitals) were a West German krautrock band formed in Düsseldorf in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother following their departure from Kraftwerk. The group's albums were produced by Conny Plank, w ...
on its
first album in 1972, and also by
Harmonia
In Greek mythology, Harmonia (; grc, Ἁρμονία / harmoˈnia/, "harmony", "agreement") is the immortal goddess of harmony and concord. Her Roman counterpart is Concordia. Her Greek opposite is Eris, whose Roman counterpart is Discord ...
which formed in 1973.
References
External links
Bulbul Tarang of India
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taishogoto
Typewriter zithers
Japanese musical instruments
Culture in Nagoya
East African musical instruments