When classifying string instruments in the West and in Asian countries other than Japan, the norm is to divide them into bowed instruments and plucked instruments. In this book, I have classified string instruments into the lute family and zither family. This chapter deals with the lute family.

With lutes, it is necessary to indicate the string number, which left-hand fingers to use, and the fret number (particularly on the biwa). Therefore, in this book, I have adopted the most common method: Roman numerals indicate the string number, Arabic numbers indicate the fingering of the left hand, and encircled Arabic numbers indicate the fret number. The fingers of the left hand are assigned the following numbers following Western string-instrument practice: the index finger is 1; the middle finger is 2; the ring finger is 3; and the little finger is 4. Following Japanese tradition, from lowest to highest, string numbers are indicated by I, II, and III, in contrast to the Chinese and Western systems where I, II, and III are used to number strings from highest to lowest.

While the term kaihō -gen is commonly used in Japanese to refer to the open strings—the playing of a string without the left hand pressing any position—the correct term, however, should be kaihō -gen-on. In this book, I use the term kaihō - on, or “open sound.”

Japanese lutes include the biwa, the shamisen, and the kokyū.

Biwa

The Persian ud developed into the pipa in T'ang China, which was the first biwa imported to Japan in the seventh and eighth centuries CE as part of the tōgaku ensemble, and is known as the gaku-biwa. At the same time, another biwa, the mōsō-biwa (or kōjin-biwa) absorbed the performance techniques of the vinā, an instrument that entered India from Western Asia, and was adapted for use in Buddhist ceremonies before being transmitted to Kyushu via China

From these two musical currents, the Heike-biwa—and its music, Heikyoku— arose in the twelfth century, the Satsuma-biwa in the sixteenth century, and in the nineteenth century, Chikuzen-biwa appeared as instruments to accompany song and narrative.