The shamisen, also known as the sangen or samisen , is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument sanxian. It is played with a plectrum called a bachi.

What does the word koto mean?

1) Using “koto” as its dictionary definitions of “thing,” “matter,” “incident,” “circumstance,” etc. “Koto” can be used in a variety of situations to generally mean “thing(s).” For example: する事がありません。 Suru koto ga arimasen. There is nothing to do, as in “I'm bored”.

Are shamisen made of cat?

“Cat and dog skins have been the material used for shamisen since the Edo period about 400 years ago,” says Kineya, who like many in his nagauta (literally, “long song”) troupe take the Kineya stage name. ... In recent years, imports of finished dog skin products for shamisen were halted from Thailand.