![]() Only the lowest-tuned actually is in contact with the upper edge of this niche. Secondly, a shallow trough or niche ( sawari) is carved across the fingerboard just below the nut. First, a nut/bridge ( kami-goma) made from rolled-up brass runs partially across this boundary so that the two higher-pitched strings pass over it, but not the third string. At the point where the neck becomes the pegbox a subtle but important pair of features are in place that contribute to the desired sound of this instrument (see second detail image). A pegbox ( itogura) with three laterally mounted friction tuning pegs ( itomaki) tops the neck. The long, slender, and fretless neck ( sao) is constructed of three joined segments of wood and can be disassembled for ease of transport. The top and bottom openings of this frame are covered with taut membranes ( kawa) of dog or cat skin that are glued to it (see first detail image, in which the backside membrane is shown). The resonator ( do) is a square wood frame about four inches deep constructed from four slightly arched slats of wood (redwood and Chinese quince are favored) joined together. The shamisen is a spike lute, meaning that the neck passes through the walls and interior of the resonator. ![]() Amateurs interested in shamisen can also today find professional teachers with whom to study, and there are even degree programs in shamisen performance at a few universities. Geisha represent a significant portion of the community that studies, performs, and is exposed to shamisen music, especially the kouta genre. In modern Japan geisha performance is one of a few contexts in which traditional shamisen music is heard. Up until the beginning of the Meiji Period (1868 CE) todo were the primary carriers, innovators, and teachers of shamisen music. The cultural brokers who facilitated the transformation of a foreign instrument into a popular vocal accompanying instrument of the artistically vibrant Edo period (1603-1868 CE) were mendicant monks and todo (blind professional musicians organized in guilds specializing in specific genres of music) of 16 th and 17 th century Japan. Utamono genres include the now nearly defunct kumiuta song cycle repertoire, and the hauta (‘beginning’), kouta (‘short’), and nagauta (‘long’) song genres. The shamisen pictured here is of the type called hosozao, which is appropriate for use in lyrical ( utamono) song genres, rather than narrative ( katarimono) ones, and for use in the sankyoku instrumental trio (see separate ensemble entry ‘). Alternately known as samisen (in Kyoto and Osaka) and sangen (when played with koto in jiuta chamber music), and now sometimes spelled syamisen, the shamisen has associated with it a large repertoire of music. The shamisen is a plucked spike-lute chordophone of Japan that has been popular in folk, art, and theatre music since the middle of the 17 th century.
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