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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. The lowest string is purposefully laid lower at the nut of the instrument in order to create a buzz, a characteristic timbre known as sawari (somewhat reminiscent of the "buzzing" of a sitar, which is called Jivari).
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 ...
The sanshin (三線, lit., "three strings") is an Okinawan and Amami Islands musical instrument and precursor of the mainland Japanese shamisen . Often likened to a banjo , it consists of a snakeskin -covered body, neck and three strings.
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).
It is also an accompanying instrument in vocal works. The lute player either improvises ("realizes") a chordal accompaniment based on the figured bass part, or plays a written-out accompaniment (both music notation and tablature ("tab") are used for lute). As a small instrument, the lute produces a relatively quiet sound. The player of a lute ...
The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a (Chinese: 琵琶) is a traditional Chinese musical instrument belonging to the plucked category of instruments.Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12 to 31.
However, 琴 (koto) is the general term for all string instruments in the Japanese language, [2] [3] including instruments such as the kin no koto, sō no koto, yamato-goto, wagon, nanagen-kin, and so on. [3] When read as kin, it indicates the Chinese instrument guqin. [4] The term is used today in the same way.
[3] The 3 guitar-strings run over a rather large loose bridge on the skin to a wooden string-holder, which is fixed with a rope to a pin on the bottom of the body. It has nylon strings and it can be tuned F2, C3, F3 or D2, A2, D3, or C2, G2, C3; from the top string to the bottom one. The top and the middle strings have a fifth between them.