Shamisen

The instrument used to accompany kabuki has a thin neck, facilitating the agile and virtuosic requirements of that genre.

The one used to accompany puppet plays and folk songs has a longer and thicker neck instead, to match the more robust music of those genres.

[1] Its construction follows a model similar to that of a guitar or a banjo, with a neck and strings stretched across a resonating body.

They are stretched between the pegs at the head of the instrument, and a cloth tailpiece anchored at the end of the rod which protrudes on the other side of the body.

The strings are stretched across the body, raised from it by means of a bridge, or koma (駒), which rests directly on the taut skin.

Examples of shamisen genres include nagauta, jiuta, min'yo, kouta, hauta, shinnai, tokiwazu, kiyomoto, gidayu and tsugaru.

Shamisen used for traditional genres of Japanese music, such as jiuta, kouta, and nagauta, adhere to very strict standards.

[5] The hosozao (細棹, literally "thin neck"), as its Japanese name implies, is the smallest kind of shamisen.

Generally, the hosozao is used in nagauta, the shorter and thinner neck facilitating the agile and virtuosic requirements of kabuki.

As the neck approaches the body of the instrument, the distance between the strings and the fingerboard is maintained, unlike the hosozao, where it tapers off.

The pronounced curve that occurs just before the neck meets the body is called hatomune (鳩胸, literally "pigeon's breast").

In these genres, a thicker neck facilitates the greater force used in playing the music of these styles.

The use of more typical shamisen is possible, but they must be properly adjusted with a capo device to raise their pitch to make them suitable for use.

Jiuta bachi are the easiest to identify as they are the longest, the widest, and also have a deep indentation where the tortoiseshell meets the handle.

The koma (駒), or bridge, can be fashioned out of aged bamboo, ivory, ox-bone (shari), rosewood, buffalo horn, kōki wood, any combination of the above, or plastic for the student level.

Ivory is the most expensive and produces the most desirable sound and amplification, but due to its high price tag is normally only used in performances.

Because of ivory's volume and vibration, it is normally used by a teacher or tate-jamisen (lead shamisen), so that the other players can follow their tone and signals.

Blackwater buffalo horn does not have a significant sound difference when cut in the jiuta koma style, and is far less popular.

Because of the thickness of both the strings and neck of the futozao shamisen, the tsugaru bridge in general tends to be longer than the others.

As in the clawhammer style of American banjo playing, the bachi is often used to strike both string and skin, creating a highly percussive sound.

A number of shamisen styles exist across Japan, and tunings, tonality and notation vary to some degree.

Three of the most commonly recognized tunings across all genres are honchoushi (本調子), niagari (二上がり), and sansagari (三下がり).

While tunings might be similar across genres, the way in which the nodes on the neck of the instrument (called tsubo (壷) in Japanese) are named is not.

[6][7][8][9] The sanxian was introduced through the Ryūkyū Kingdom (Okinawa) in the 16th century, where it developed into the Okinawan sanshin (三線), from which the shamisen ultimately derives.

The shamisen player must know the entire work perfectly in order to respond effectively to the interpretations of the text by the singer-narrator.

In the early part of the 20th century, blind musicians, including Shirakawa Gunpachirō (1909–1962), Takahashi Chikuzan (1910–1998), and sighted players such as Kida Rinshōei (1911–1979), evolved a new style of playing, based on traditional folk songs (min'yō) but involving much improvisation and flashy fingerwork.

Its name literally means "little song", which contrasts with the musical genre of nagauta found in bunraku and kabuki; though both maiko and geisha training to play the shamisen will also learn naguata and will occasionally perform nagauta at banquets, the vast majority of musical performances seen at the parties and events they attend are kouta.