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Where may the idea of playing a stringed instrument with a bow have originated?

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Koto — stringed instrument A Japanese musician plucking the strings of a koto with the right hand to generate a pitch and pressing the strings with the left hand to alter the tone.

It is widely believed that the technique of playing a stringed instrument with a bow originated among the horse cultures of Central Asia, possibly as early as the 9th century CE.12

From this region, the practice spread rapidly across the Muslim world and into other parts of Eurasia, reaching China, Java, North Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans by approximately 1000 CE. Evidence for this cultural diffusion is often noted in the terminology used for the instrument's bridge, which frequently translates to "horse" in languages across the region, from Japan to Norway. While the bow eventually became a defining feature of European music, it is suspected that the technology entered Europe through multiple routes, including Muslim Spain, Sicily, and the Balkans.12