The Japanese shamisen looks like a guitar but is played more like a drum. The player pounds on the three strings with a giant pick so rapidly that the strings break as often as every day to every week 😡🎸!! Its history is as rock as the sound it makes. A Chinese stringed instrument was introduced to the Ryukyu Kingdom (what is now Okinawa) in the 14th century, and then was brought over to mainland Japan on a trade ship. The early shamisen was taken up by blind musicians at first. They would go

The Koto (13 string Japanese traditional instrument) | Rob Scallon