ICHIGENKIN: Japanese musical instrument

The ichigenkin is a single-stringed zither that is from Japan. The body of the musical instrument is a slender, somewhat curved plank constructed from kiri wood. The raw silk string of the instrument is plucked with the use of a triangular plectrum that is placed on the index finger of the player’s right hand while a tubular ivory device that is analogous to a guitar slide that is placed over the middle finger of the player’s left hand somewhat depresses the string of the instrument. Both the plectrum and the slide are called rokan just like the Chinese guqin from which the instrument was likely derived from. The musical instrument has no frets, so sliding tones are an essential part of the pattern of the musical instrument.

source of picture: matmuseum 

Traditionally, the musical instrument is used to accompany traditional singing, although there are also basically instrumental works on the repertoire. The ichigenkin once was a popular musical instrument in samurai, literati and priest, but contemporary day players of the musical instrument are very scarce.

A two string version of the musical instrument known as yakumogoto was fabricated in the year1820 by Nakayama Kotonushi. The musical instrument has a closed back resonant body and a bridge at either strings ends. The yakumogoto has become strongly linked with the Shinto religion. An open backed two string version of the musical instrument known as azuma-ryu nigenkin was fabricated in the 2^nd half of the 19^th century by Tosha Rosen to play popular pieces of the time. This version of the musical instrument is normally simply called nigenkin, literally the two-string zither.