samisen

samisen, long-necked fretless Japanese lute. The instrument has a small square body with a catskin front and back, three twisted-silk strings, and a curved-back pegbox with side pegs. It is played with a large plectrum; different types of plectrums produce distinct tone colours for specific types of music.

The normal tunings of the samisen are c–f–b♭, c–f–c′, or c–g–c′ (relative pitch, tuned to the singer’s range). A groove cut into the neck near the upper bridge causes the lowest string to touch the fingerboard, creating a characteristic buzzing sound called sawari.

The samisen was derived from the similar Chinese sanxian, a version of which—the sanshin—reached Japan from the Ryukyu Islands in the 16th century. It is widely played in folk and art music as an accompaniment to lyric and narrative song and in the orchestras of Bunraku (puppet) and Kabuki dramas.