In Okinawan Words: Sanshin

In Okinawan Words: Sanshin

What bagpipes are to Scotland, the sanshin is to Okinawa. It’s the signature sound of Okinawan music. The instrument is basically a bowl-shaped sounding board to which a long neck is fastened and strung with three strings. It’s a little like a violin in that there are no frets to mark the notes of the scale, and it’s a bit like a banjo because a sanshin’s main function is to produce rhythm rather than melody. You might say it is also like a guitar because the strings are plucked with a pick.

In my novel, Katsuren, one of the characters plays a sanshin. There is a popular belief in Okinawa that anyone under the age of 60 who messes around with a sanshin will come to a bad end. The reason is, it’s a lot of fun to play and most people can get a tune out of it the first time they pick it up. However, to play it well enough for the folks around you to enjoy it, too, takes at least three years of daily practice. If you are practicing the sanshin everyday, are you goofing off when you should be tilling your sugar cane field? Probably. That’s why I made the sanshin player in my story an old man who drives a taxi and plays his sanshin while waiting for fare-paying customers. He's old enough to be allowed.