Jadagan
# Jadagan

The jadagan (Khakas: чадыған, chadyghan, Russian: чатхан, çatkhan, or Siberian harp) is a wooden board zither of the Khakass Turkic people of Russian Siberia, usually with 6 or 7 strings stretched across movable bridges and tuned a fourth or fifth apart. The body is hollowed out from underneath like an upturned trough. It has a convex surface and an end bent towards the ground. The strings are plucked and the sound is very smooth. The instrument was considered to be sacrosanct and playing it was a rite bound to taboos. The instrument was mainly used at court and in monasteries, since strings symbolised the twelve levels of the palace hierarchy.

## In the West

Folklorist Nancy Thym-Hochrein has researched the instrument, and musician Raphael De Cock is a contemporary player.

## Related instruments

* Yatga: Mongolia
* koto: Japan
* Guzheng: China
* Zither
* Se: China
* Gayageum: Korea
* Đàn tranh: Vietnam
* Kanun (instrument)
* Kanklės: Lithuania
* Jetigen: Kazakhstan
* Ajaeng: Korea
* Yazheng: China
