Koto virtuouso MIYAGI Michio on summer nights:

In summer, I open the window when darkness falls to let in the breeze as I turn to my work. Deep into the night I work, listening to the trams and trains and cars outside, the sounds of the city; but as it grows later they settle naturally into silence, until all I hear is a distant motorcycle patrolling the town.

Recommended listening: Miyagi's Kohen no yūbe (湖辺の夕, "Lakeside evening"), available in two parts here—with Miyagi on kokyū!—if you scroll down to "Victor 51041".

It's rare to find shakuhachi and kokyū together in the same performance of music like this, by the way. The shakuhachi is generally understood to have usurped the kokyū as the sinuous, high-pitched melody line in sankyoku (三曲, [traditional] trio pieces). So this is kind of like a sax-trumpet-piano trio, and I think even if you generally find most traditional koto-based Japanese music much of a muchness you will find it intriguing.

Also recommended for on that same page: Kotori no uta (小鳥の歌, "Song of the birds"), side A of Victor 50366. Two shakuhachi plus Miyagi on koto thrash out something cute and perky for your morning ablutions.