The Donkey's Ears Go Flop, Flop: Miyagi Michio's Koto Works for Children

Miyagi Michio (1894-1956), koto performer, composer, and educator, was a musical innovator who modified traditional instruments, incorporated new ideas into the body of work called sōkyoku , and adopted compositional and playing techniques from Western music and instruments. He was also one of the first Japanese composers to create pedagogical materials and entertaining works that were appropriate for children, and those works are still widely used today to teach koto-playing to beginners, particularly children. This paper will provide an introduction to the Miyagi school of koto playing, examine the traditional method of teaching koto to children, investigate Miyagi's motivation for creating a pedagogical method for children, provide a historical overview of Miyagi's dōkyoku (children's songs), and finally analyze several of these works.