The biwa is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime during the Nara period (710–794).

This overlap resulted in a rapid evolution of the biwa and its usage and made it one of the most popular instruments in Japan.

However, another variant of the biwa – known as the mōsō-biwa or the kōjin-biwa – also found its way to Japan, first appearing in the Kyushu region.

Seeing its relative convenience and portability, the monks combined these features with their large and heavy gaku-biwa to create the heike-biwa, which, as indicated by its namesake, was used primarily for recitations of The Tale of the Heike.

Through the next several centuries, players of both traditions intersected frequently and developed new music styles and new instruments.

The higo-biwa is closely related to the heike-biwa and, similarly, relies on an oral narrative tradition focusing on wars and legends.

By the middle of the Meiji period, improvements had been made to the instruments and easily understandable songs were composed in quantity.

In the beginning of the Taishō period (1912–1926), the satsuma-biwa was modified into the nishiki-biwa, which became popular among female players at the time.

It was originally used by traveling biwa minstrels, and its small size lent it to indoor play and improved portability.

The satsuma-biwa (薩摩琵琶), a biwa with four strings and four frets, was popularized during the Edo period in Satsuma Province (present-day Kagoshima) by Shimazu Tadayoshi.

The frets of the satsuma-biwa are raised 4 centimetres (1.6 in) from the neck allowing notes to be bent several steps higher, each one producing the instrument's characteristic sawari, or buzzing drone.

Its size and construction influences the sound of the instrument as the curved body is often struck percussively with the plectrum during play.

The most eminent 20th century satsuma-biwa performer was Tsuruta Kinshi, who developed her own version of the instrument, which she called the tsuruta-biwa.

Ueda Junko and Tanaka Yukio, two of Tsuruta's students, continue the tradition of the modern satsuma-biwa.

Carlo Forlivesi's compositions Boethius (ボエティウス) and Nuove Musiche per Biwa (琵琶のための新曲) were both written for performance on the satsuma-biwa designed by Tsuruta and Tanaka.

Also, thanks to the possibility of relying on a level of virtuosity never before attempted in this specific repertory, the composer has sought the renewal of the acoustic and aesthetic profile of the biwa, bringing out the huge potential in the sound material: attacks and resonance, tempo (conceived not only in the chronometrical but also deliberately empathetical sense), chords, balance and dialogue (with the occasional use of two biwas in Nuove Musiche per Biwa), dynamics and colour.

Its plectrum is much smaller than that of the satsuma-biwa, usually about 13 cm (5.1 in) in width, although its size, shape, and weight depends on the sex of the player.

Male players typically play biwa that are slightly wider and/or longer than those used by women or children.

Instead, biwa singers tend to sing with a flexible pitch without distinguishing soprano, alto, tenor, or bass roles.

Notes played on the biwa usually begin slow and thin and progress through gradual accelerations, increasing and decreasing tempo throughout the performance.

Outside influence, internal pressures, and socio-political turmoil redefined biwa patronage and the image of the biwa; for example, the Ōnin War of the Muromachi period (1338–1573) and the subsequent Warring States period (15th–17th centuries) disrupted the cycle of tutelage for heikyoku[citation needed][a] performers.

Life in post-war Japan was difficult, and many musicians abandoned their music in favor of more sustainable livelihoods.

[16] While many styles of biwa flourished in the early 1900s (such as kindai-biwa between 1900 and the 1930s), the cycle of tutelage was broken yet again by the war.

Kindai-biwa still retains a significant number of professional and amateur practitioners, but the zato, heike, and moso-biwa styles have all but died out.

[18] As biwa music declined in post-Pacific War Japan, many Japanese composers and musicians found ways to revitalize interest in it.

His well-received compositions, such as November Steps, which incorporated biwa heikyoku with Western orchestral performance, revitalized interest in the biwa and sparked a series of collaborative efforts by other musician in genres ranging from J-Pop and enka to shin-hougaku and gendaigaku.

[19] Other musicians, such as Yamashika Yoshiyuki, considered by most ethnomusicologists to be the last of the biwa hōshi, preserved scores of songs that were almost lost forever.

Yamashika, born in the late Meiji period, continued the biwa hōshi tradition until his death in 1996.