Japanese Instruments Posted by Ginny on Aug 7, 2010 in Culture
Way before guitars and violins were introduced to Japan, Japanese music was dominated by traditional Japanese stringed instruments such as these:
A Koto (箏) is a 13 stringed instrument made of wood. The koto has 13 bridges, which can be moved around to change the sound.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75uAD-XYs6U
A Shamisen (三味線) is a three stringed instrument played with a bachi (撥). A bachi is a tool used to play the shamisen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDZgPf4JEGQ
A Biwa (琵琶) is a pear shaped guitar with four or five strings and four or five frets, depending on the biwa.
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Comments:
David Burrous:
I am an amateur koto player. My koto is rather old. I bought it used in 1970. My hands are rather large and it is difficult for me to play the strings sometimes. I found out a couple years ago that there is a more contemporary koto (still 6′ long) but that is slightly wider. That is to say that the strings are slightly farther apart from each other. Can you please tell me the names of these two kotos? Thank you very much for any help you can offer. Regards, David.