Sanshin

The sanshin begins with three named parts: neck, body, and tuning pegs. In Okinawa, including Naha, makers sort the instrument by neck shape; seven representative forms keep the names of Ryukyu Kingdom master makers. The body is covered with snake skin, a material named as a characteristic of the instrument. In use, the same three-string form appears in kumiodori, Ryukyu opera, folk songs, and pop music.

Late in the fourteenth century, the prototype sansen was brought to the Ryukyu Kingdom by the Thirty-Six Min families from the lower Min River area of Fujian. The Ryukyu Islands sat near the center of the East China Sea and traded actively with neighboring parts of East Asia, giving the instrument a sea route into Ryukyu. In the fifteenth century, sanshin study was encouraged as part of shizoku education, placing the instrument in a concrete setting of status-group learning.

Early in the seventeenth century, the Ryukyu Kingdom adopted the sanshin as a court instrument and used it in reception events. The court also created roles for sanshin makers and for administrators who supervised them, placing craft work beside performance. Around the same period, kumiodori and other song-and-dance arts became active, and the sanshin established itself as an important instrument in court music.

After 1879, the shizoku who had carried the sanshin lost their standing and moved into local communities. From them, the instrument passed to common people and came to be used in village festivals and village theater. The same three strings moved from court receptions and shizoku education into days when villagers gathered for rites and performance.

Making a sanshin begins with the neck type. The maker transfers dimensions from a drawing and pattern to the wood, cuts while reading the grain, then files and sands the form. The upper part of the neck is especially important to the type and is finished by hand. Lacquer is applied and polished about three to ten times. On the body, the chiiga is covered with snake skin on the front and back, wedges adjust the skin tension, and the final neck-body fitting, called bu-ate, affects the tone.

In 1945, the Battle of Okinawa caused heavy loss of life and damaged tangible objects as well as performing practices. From 1955 onward, notable sanshin began to be protected; today, 20 sanshin are protected as craft objects. Current points of contact include Sanshin University, sanshin classes, beginner programs, school-trip and training programs, performance experiences, performer dispatch, and a digital sanshin map, giving the instrument classrooms, events, and stages beyond its place of making.