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General Kamō Hikoshiro, the leader of Saigō Takamori's guard takes cover in a cave. Suddenly, the sound of a biwa is heard from within.

In the heart of the Heike monogatari is a single mention of a particular biwa at a critical moment of the narrative.

Excelling in poetry and music, and a brilliant biwa player, he was granted the use of the famed instrument Seizan by Prince Kakusho.

On March 7th, Triona Marshall and I performed a programme for Satsumabiwa and Irish harp at St Ann's Church.

Clara got in touch with me about two years ago during her research for this book. She had many questions, and I was delighted to talk...

Fumon told me that he was to perform with shakuhachi player Christopher Yohmei Blasdel at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo.

On Friday, March 7, at 1pm, Triona Marshall and I will play a recital titled Celebrating Lafcadio Hearn - Bridging Japan and Ireland.

There needs to be improvisation [or sokkyosei 即興性]. Without this, the music is dead.

Singing Satsumabiwa became an adventure in the completest sense of the word. The first song Fumon began to teach me was Horaisan.

He plays the first phrase on the instrument,  I attempt to follow, gritting my teeth at the pain in my shoulder from holding the instrument

Among the topics that we spoke about were embodied knowledge, information that is preserved in lived experience

For English.... このブログに興味をもって、 ここまで足を運んでくださり、ありがとうございます。 このブログでは、薩摩琵琶のことをお話ししていきたいと思っています。 トーマス　蘭杖　（Photo by Fran Marshall) 薩摩琵琶は、...

The face board was made of mulberry wood. The grain of the wood caught my attention because it had black lines through it.

the person traditionally associated with the creation of the Satsumabiwa in the mid-16th century was a Confucian scholar, Shimadzu Tadayoshi

The modern Satsumabiwa in both its forms, Nishikibiwa and Tsurutaryu Satsumabiwa, has become the default instrument in modern compositions

a serene and atmospheric scene of a women's temple adorned with mosquito nets, set against the backdrop of a moonlit evening....

A translation of the song Himeyuri Corps 姫百合部隊

...the whole tradition can't be summed up in this way. Recently, I came to understand these texts in a more nuanced way.

The timbre of his voice made it so unlike anything I was familiar with. I could not call it song. Nor would I describe it as chant.

The hypersonic effect concerns changes to the brain that occur with frequencies above 40kHz, way beyond the threshold of hearing for humans.