Danmono

Danmono are the foundational solo works of sōkyoku, the Japanese koto repertory: instrumental pieces built from a chain of dan, "steps" of 52 beats, played on the thirteen-string koto in the hirajōshi tuning. Their dry, measured unfolding of motivic cells teaches the instrument's core techniques, from tremolo and pressing to glissando, and the repertory descends from *Yatsuhashi Kengyō*, who established the secular koto art in Edo in the seventeenth century. "Rokudan no Shirabe" remains the most taught and recorded piece in Japanese traditional music, a test of touch passed down through the Ikuta and Yamada schools and modern recitalists such as *Nanae Yoshimura*.