![]() ![]() As you can imagine, this is quite a delicate process. The second string is made by twisting two third strings together, while the first string is made using three third strings twisted together. This is made by twisting seven threads directly from the silkworm cocoon and then twisting forty of these basic threads together. Firstly, they start by making the third string. ![]() From top to bottom, you have ichi no ito (first string), ni no ito (second string) and san no ito (third string). Three of today's best-known traditional Japanese instruments date back to that time the biwa, the koto and the shakuhachi. What is interesting about the strings, is the way they are threaded together. There are three main stringed instruments, the wagon, a 7-stringed table zither, the gaku-biwa, a 4-stringed lute, and the gaku-so, a 13-stringed table zither that's a precursor to the koto. The strings, the most delicate and beautiful part of the shamisen (in my opinion), is made of raw silk. The main body is made from either, mulberry or zelkova wood, and then covered in either plastic, dog or cat skin. Now although the sao is made from one piece of wood, it is then divided into three parts in order to make it easier to pack away and transport. However, regular rosewood, mulberry or walnut may also be used. The most highly regarded wood for a shamisen is a specific type of very hard rosewood, which is in fact imported. The neck, or sao, is made from a single piece of wood. Although these shamisen may differ in size and weight, they are all built in a similar fashion. There are three types of shamisen: hosozao (narrow neck), chuzao (middle-sized neck), and futozao (thick neck). Ivory is also great for absorbing moisture, meaning the player does not have to worry about the bachi becoming slippery from sweat. Horn is hard and flexible, while ivory is strong yet soft at the same time. The bachi can be made of different materials, such as water buffalo horn or ivory. ![]() For this reason, shamisen students often use dog skin, or even plastic, as these are more durable, cheaper, and easier to replace.Īs well as the body changing over time, so did the plectrum: from the Okinawa sanshin plectrum, a bull’s horn worn over the index finger, to a triangular shaped plectrum, and finally to the fan shaped plectrum we know today, called bachi. Cat skin is thought to produce a higher quality of sound, but is a lot more expensive and delicate. Moreover, snake skin, which was harder to come across, was replaced by either dog or cat skin. After entering Japan, the shape changed to a more box like feature, to make it easier to rest on your lap, and the neck became longer. Originally the instrument had a round body, and was made of wood covered in snake skin. Due to a strong sense of this instrument being low class and a part of popular culture, it takes a couple hundred more years for the shamisen to be revered as highly as it is today.Īs previously mentioned, the sanshin was brought over to Japan via trade ships from the Ryukyu Kingdom. With the rise of Kabuki during the Edo period (1603-1868), the shamisen rapidly gains popularity, and soon becomes associated with Edo’s (now Tokyo) urban popular culture. ![]()
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