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object

Biwa

Objects · Rituals · Traditions

A named pear-shaped lute of Japanese narrative and court practice. Not a pipa, not the harp of Orpheus, and not a generic lute under a temple name.

  • Biwa is historically related to Silk.

    Chamberlain’s Music notes seat the biwa as the pear-shaped lute of narrative song, silk-strung — biwa speech, not a shamisen alone.

    from Basil Hall Chamberlain · Things Japanese, 1890 (5th ed. 1905)

    historically related to · sourced · documented

sources

  • Things Japanese · Basil Hall Chamberlain

    Basil Hall Chamberlain, Things Japanese (5th ed. 1905).