Koto (instrument)

A Japanese koto laid out so you can count its 13 strings, each lifted by a pale movable bridge. Sliding those bridges is how the koto is tuned, so one instrument can be set to different scales between pieces. The long body is paulownia wood, and players wear three picks called tsume on the thumb and first two fingers of the right hand. Compare it with the guzheng: fewer strings, a crisper attack and more than a thousand years of Japanese repertoire behind it.