For those of you who don't know a shamisen is a traditional Japanese instrument that sounds like a...banjo? It has 3 strings and is played with a bachi, which is like a guitar pick, it is ginkgo leaf shaped and made of ivory, tortoise shell or wood. Traditional shamisens have silk strings but those are being replaced with nylon.

Kotos are the national instrument of Japan. They are 180 centimeters long (traditional) and have 13 strings. Some have 20, 25 or 17 strings. They are played with the thumb, forefinger and middle finger of the right hand.

I've played shamisen and koto for 7 years biggrin