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The biwa (Japanese: 琵琶) is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. 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).
Tsuruta specialized in the ancient pear-shaped plucked lute called the biwa, [1] and also sang. She developed her own form of the Satsuma biwa, [ 2 ] which is sometimes referred to as Tsuruta biwa. This biwa differs from the traditional Satsuma biwa in the number of frets, construction of the head, and occasionally a doubled 4th string.
Shamisen – a banjo-like lute with three strings; brought to Japan from China in the 16th century. Popular in Edo's pleasure districts, the shamisen is often used in kabuki theater. Made from red sandalwood and ranging from 1.1 to 1.4 metres (3 ft 7 in to 4 ft 7 in) long, the shamisen has ivory pegs, strings made from twisted silk, and a belly ...
Biwa hōshi (琵琶法師), also known as "lute priests", were travelling performers in the era of Japanese history preceding the Meiji period. They earned their income by reciting vocal literature to the accompaniment of biwa music. Biwa hōshi were mostly blind, and adopted the shaved heads and robes common to Buddhist monks.
The oldest forms of traditional Japanese music are: shōmyō (声明 or 聲明), or Buddhist chanting; gagaku (雅楽), or orchestral court music; both of which date to the Nara (710–794) and Heian (794–1185) periods. [3]
琵琶 is an East Asian string instrument. 琵琶 may refer to: Bipa, a Korean pear-shaped lute; Biwa, a Japanese short-necked fretted lute; Pipa, a Chinese plucked string instrument; Tỳ bà or đàn tỳ bà (檀琵琶), a Vietnamese traditional plucked string instrument
Yukio Tanaka (田中 之雄, Tanaka Yukio, born 1948) is a Japanese biwa player.. He studied under the satsuma biwa master Kinshi Tsuruta, whose status he inherited as a leading figure of Japanese traditional music.
Toshi Ichiyanagi (一柳 慧, Ichiyanagi Toshi, 4 February 1933 – 7 October 2022) was a Japanese avant-garde composer and pianist. One of the leading composers in Japan during the postwar era, Ichiyanagi worked in a range of genres, composing Western-style operas and orchestral and chamber works, as well as compositions using traditional Japanese instruments. [1]