88 BULLETIN 136, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



is directed to 93198 (pi. 33d), a magnificent Ikuta-Koto from Tokyo 

 which was exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition in 1876. The 

 fixed bridges near each end are 59V4 inches apart and the 13 silk 

 strings are passed over movable bridges. The instrument is richly 

 decorated with carved ebony and ivory, and on its sides are 24 san- 

 dalwood medallions illustrating the classical Japanese story of the 

 24 obedient children. 



Similar to the koto in some respects are two Korean instruments. 

 93569 and 95207. These are placed on the floor when played and 

 picked with a small rod of bamboo the size of a lead pencil. It will 

 be noted that the outer string on each side does not pass over the 

 bridge, but has an adjustable bridge of its own. 



A large group of stringed instruments in India are designated as 

 "vina," "vin," or "bin." The characteristics of this group are a 

 resonator (frequently of gourd), a long finger board, and seven 

 strings, only four of which pass over the finger board, the others- 

 being attached to tuning pegs halfway up the neck of the instru- 

 ment and played as open strings. Some forms of the vina have frets, 

 others have none; some varieties of the instrument are played with 

 a plectrum of wood, steel, or iron, and others are always struck with 

 the finger tips, these variations indicating the wide modifications 

 of the instrument. According to Day, the principal stringed instru- 

 ments in India (various forms of vina) "still remain just as they 

 are described in the ancient books, even down to the very details 

 of the carving with which they are adorned, so conservative are the 

 people [in matters] connected with the art they hold to be so 

 sacred." Many of the vina have a peacock carved on some part of 

 the instrument. According to Engel this is explained as follows: 

 " Saraswati, the consort of Brahma, * * * is the goddess of 

 music as well as of speech; to her is attributed the invention of the 

 systematic arrangement of the sounds into a musical scale. She is 

 represented seated on a peacock and playing on a stringed instru- 

 ment of the lute kind." Every vina has its nut carved with an ele- 

 phant at one end and a peacock at the other. These represent the 

 first and last notes of their* musical scale, the different notes of which 

 are represented by animals. 



The three principal types of this group are the vina, having a 

 fretted finger board and gourd or wooden resonator; the tambura. 

 which has no frets and a gourd or wooden resonator; and the setar, 

 which resembles the tambura, but has frets on the finger board. To 

 these may be added the small setar played by ladies as a drawing- 

 room instruments. The names of these instruments are spelled in 

 various ways, the form given being that used by Doctor Tagore. 

 Examples of the three types will be designated and the general shape 

 of the instrument will identify other specimens. It is customary to 



