Definition of "koto"

koto

noun
plural kotos
1. (music) A Japanese stringed instrument having numerous strings, usually seven or thirteen, that are stretched over a convex wooden sounding board and are plucked with three plectra, worn on the thumb, index finger, and middle finger of one hand.
  Quotations
  Seated on the soft carpet with their drinks, they listened to a recording of koto, Japanese thirteen-string harp.
  1962, Philip K. Dick, “The Man in the High Castle”, in Four Novels of the 1960s, Library of America, published 2007, page 94