#3 string japanese instrument skin#

A kokyū society, dedicated to promoting the instrument, exists in Japan. Since Shinei Matayoshi, a kokyū and sanshin musician and maker, invented and popularized a four-stringed version of the kokyū in order to expand the instrument's range, the kokyū has become much more popular. In central Japan, the kokyū was formerly used as an integral part of the sankyoku ensemble, along with the koto and shamisen, but beginning in the 20th century the shakuhachi began to play the role previously filled by the kokyū. It is often tuned the same as a shamisen but an octave higher. It has three (or, more rarely, four) strings and is played upright, with a horsehair-strung bow bowing the strings. In Okinawa, the body is round, while in mainland Japan, it is square like a shamisen.

#3 string japanese instrument skin#

It is 70 centimetres (28 in) tall, with a neck made of ebony and a hollow body made of coconut or Styrax japonicus wood, covered on both ends with cat skin (or snakeskin in Okinawa). The kokyū is similar in construction to the shamisen, appearing as a smaller version of that instrument. Although it is similar to Chinese huqin, it actually came to Okinawa via the rebab from Indonesia and Malaysia. The kokyū, like the shamisen, has its origins in Okinawa. A variant of the instrument also exists in Okinawa, called kūchō ( 胡弓) in Okinawan. The kokyū ( 胡弓) is a traditional Japanese string instrument, the only one played with a bow.