Catgut Catgut Catgut is a type of cord that is prepared from the natural fibre found in the walls of animal intestines. Catgut makers usually use sheep or goat intestines, but occasionally use the intestines of cattle, hogs, horses, mules, or donkeys. Despite the name, catgut manufacturers do not use cat intestines. The word "catgut" may have been an abbreviation of the word "cattlegut". Alternatively, it may derive by folk etymology from "kitgut" or "kitstring"—the word "kit", meaning fiddle, having at some point been confused with the word "kit" for a young cat; The word kit, being derived from fiddle in
Koto (instrument) Koto (instrument) The is a Japanese stringed musical instrument derived from the Chinese zheng, and similar to the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum, and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The koto is the national instrument of Japan. Koto are about length, and made from "kiri" wood ("Paulownia tomentosa"). They have 13 strings that are usually strung over 13 movable bridges along the width of the instrument. There is also a 17-string variant. Players can adjust the string pitches by moving the white bridges before playing. To play the instrument, the strings are plucked using three finger picks (thumb, index finger, and