SHAMISEN: Japanese musical instrument

The shamisen is a three-stringed musical instrument from Japan that is played with the use of a plectrum called bachi.

The shamisen is a plucked stringed musical instrument. The construction of this musical instrument is analogous to the construction of a guitar or a banjo, having a neck and string spread across the resonating body of the instrument. The neck of the musical instrument is fretless and slimmer than the neck of a guitar or banjo. The body of the instrument, known as dō, resembles a drum, with a hollow body that is stretched front and back with the use of skin, in the same way as the banjo. The skin used on the musical instrument depends of the genre of music and the experience of the player. Student version of the musical instrument use the skin of a dog and sometimes plastic can be used, as they are cheaper to replace and also durable. The professional versions of the musical instrument are normally taut in the skin of a cat, as it is more expensive and delicate. It is believed that the best sound of the musical instrument can come from the skin of a cat.

The neck of the instrument that is called sao is often divided into 3 or 4 pieces that fit and lock together. The neck of the musical instrument is a singular rod that crosses the body of the instrument, somewhat bulging at the side of the instrument’s body and there acting as an anchor for the instrument’s strings. The pegs that are used to wind the strings of the musical instrument are long, hexagonal in shape and thin. These pegs were traditionally carved out of ivory, but as the ivory becomes scarce, the pegs have been fabricated out of other materials, like wood and plastic.

The three strings of the shamisen are traditionally manufactured of silk or nylon, recently. They are spread between the pegs located at the head of the shamisen, and a cloth tailpiece fastened at the end of the rod that extends beyond on the side of the instrument’s body. The strings of the shamisen are spread across the dō, outstretched from it by a means of a bridge or koma that rests directly on the stretched skin. The lowest string of the instrument is intentionally laid lower at the nut of the musical instrument, so that it buzzes and manufactures a characteristic tone quality called sawari. The upper side of the dō is always guided by a cover called dō kake, and players of the musical instrument wear a little band of cloth on the left hand to expedite sliding down the neck called yubikake. The head of the shamisen called tenjin may also be protected by a cover. The material that will be used in the production of the string will depend on the skill of the player.

The construction of the musical instrument differs in size and shape, depending on the genre in which the musical instrument is used. The bachi that is used on the musical instrument will also be different depending on the genre, if it is used at all. This musical instrument is classified according to their sizes and shapes. There are three main sizes of the musical instrument; hosozao, chuzao and futozao.

The hosozao literally means thin neck. This is the smallest version of the shamisen. The body of the musical instrument small and specifically square-shaped, with a specific thin neck that tapers away from the strings of the instrument just as it approaches the shamisen body. This version of the musical instrument is used in nagauta, the shorter and thinner neck of this version simplifies the swift and virtuosic requirement of Kabuki.

The chuzao literally means middle neck. This version of the musical instrument is a size up from the hosozao. As the name of the instrument implies, the neck of the instrument is somewhat thicker. As the neck of the instrument approaches the body of the shamisen, the distance between the strings of the instrument and the fingerboard is sustained, unlike the hosozao, where it spills off. The fingerboard ends snappishly, and the rest of the instrument’s neck curves sharply into the body of the musical instrument. The pronounced curve that takes place before the neck of the instrument meet the body of the instrument is known as hatomune. The outcome is the extended fingerboard that provides the instrument with a higher register than the hosozao.

Finally, futozao literally means fat neck. This version of the musical instrument is used in the robust music of Gidayubushi, Joruri Min’yo and Tsugaru-jamisen.  In these categories, a thicker neck accelerates the greater force that is used in performing the music of these patterns.

The bachi that is used in the playing of the musical instrument varies in size and shape and material from genre to genre. The versions of the bachi that is used in the nagauta shamisen are manufactured out of three probable materials, wood, plastic or ivory. The version of the plectrum that is used for tsugaru shamisen is the smallest. It is almost normally tipped with the shell of tortoise.

In most genres of the shamisen, the strings of the instruments are plucked with the use of a bachi. The sound of the instrument is analogous in some compliments to that of the American banjo, in that the drum such as dō intensifies the sound of the instrument’s strings. As in the clahammer pattern of the American banjo, the bachi is used in striking both the skin and the string of the instrument, producing a highly percussive sound.

The musical instruments are tuned according to their genre. The classification of the nodes in an octave also differs according to the genre. Indeed, there are myrid patterns of the musical instrument across Japan, and tuning, notation and tonality differ to some extent. Three most generally known tunings across all the genres are the honchoshi, the ni agari and the san sagari.

The honchoshi means ‘home tuning’ and it is called this because other tunings of the instrument are said to be derivatives from this pattern of tuning. For this style, the first and the third strings of the musical instrument are tuned an octave apart, while the middle string of the instrument is tuned to the equivalent of a 4^th. Example is D, G, D.

The ni agari means ‘raised two’, and this refers to the fact that the pitch of the 2^nd string of the instrument is raised, maximizing the interval of the 1^st and 2^nd strings of the instrument to a 5^th. An example is D, A, D.

The san sagari means ‘lowered three’, this refers to the tuning of the instrument to hochoshi and lowering the third string of the instrument down an entire step, so that the instrument can be tuned to 4ths. Example of this is, D, G, C.

The Japanese shamisen came from the Chinese musical instrument called sanxian. The sanxian was introduced via the Ryūkyū Kingdom in the 16^th century, where the instrument developed into Okinawan musical instrument called sanshin from which the name of the instrument is taken. It is believed that the ancestor of this musical instrument was presented in the 16^th century at port Sakai near Osaka.

The musical instrument can be performed solo or with other versions of the shamisen, in ensembles with other Japanese musical instrument, with singing like nagauta, or as an accompanying musical instrument to drama. Traditionally, both man and women played the musical instrument.

In the early section of the 20^th century, bling musicians like Shirakawa Gunpachirō (1909–1962), Takahashi Chikuzan (1910–1998) and sighted musicians like Kida Rinshōei (1911–1979), created a new pattern of playing the musical instrument, based on traditional folk song, though consisting of much improvisation and flashy finger work. This pattern called Tsugaru-jamisen today, after the home region of this pattern in the north of Honshu continued to be famous in Japan.

Kuoto is the pattern of song learned by maiko and geisha. The name of the song means ‘small or short song’, literally, which differentiates with the music genre seen in Kabuki and Bunraku, also called nagauta.