大和琴

大和琴

Japanese

大和琴 (yamatogoto): Fujiwara no Otsugu playing the six-stringed yamatogoto.

Kanji in this term
大	和	琴
Grade: 1	Grade: 3	Grade: S
Irregular

Etymology

Compound of 大和 (Yamato, ancient name for Japan) +‎ 琴 (koto, “a koto, a zither”).[1] The koto changes to goto as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

• (Irregular reading)
  • (Tokyo) やまとご​と [yàmátógóꜜtò] (Nakadaka – [4])[2]
  • IPA^(key): [ja̠ma̠to̞ɡo̞to̞]

Alternative forms

• 倭琴

Noun

大和琴 (hiragana やまとごと, rōmaji yamatogoto)

1. (music) a six-stringed koto or zither used to perform kagura music, more common in ancient times

Synonyms

• 東琴 (あずまごと) (azumagoto)
• 和 (わ)琴 (ごん) (wagon), 倭 (わ)琴 (ごん) (wagon)
• 六弦琴 (ろくげんきん) (rokugenkin), 六絃琴 (ろくげんきん) (rokugenkin)
• 六 (む)つの緒 (お) (mutsu no o)

References

1. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN