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Sound of the Koto: The Music of Japan
During his lifetime, Kimio Eto was considered to be Japan's foremost master of the koto, the ancient 13-string instrument of his native land. He, like so many, was attracted to the koto by both it's beautiful tonal qualities and remarkable versatility. In his youth, Eto studied the koto under the great master Michio Miyagi with his first composition for the instrument, Omoide, being published at just seventeen years. Eto would prove to be a prolific composer and a musician of both feeling and unparalleled technical excellence. His virtuosity being all the more remarkable when it is realized that he was totally blind from the age of five. The fine art developed through the ages in Japan has long been appreciated in the West. The style of a previously strange and mysterious culture is being increasingly integrated; literature, music, film, painting, architecture, manufacturing and food. But above all, the basic culture of Japan has remained, and one still finds the simplicity and awareness that has always been there: an insight born out of extreme sensitivity. El. 2013.