Yatsuhashi Kengyo

Yatsuhashi Kengyo / 八橋検校 (1614-1685) was a Japanese composer and koto player. He was a gifted blind musician from Kyoto who changed the limited selection of six songs to a brand new style of koto music which he called kumi uta. Yatsuhashi changed the Tsukushi goto tunings, which were based on gagaku ways of tuning; and with this change, a new style of koto was born. Yatsuhashi Kengyo is now known as the “Father of Modern Koto.”