Far East

This is a long page. Most of the plucked instruments of the Far East look quite similar, clearly originating from a single (Chinese) source.

Even the names are often quite similar, although usually you can distinguish (by small differences) the instruments from each particular country. So on this page you find the instruments from China, Mongolia, Tuva, Japan and Korea. Because Vietnam (where over the years/centuries lots of Chinese refugies have moved to) appears to have very similar instruments, this country is also included on this page.

For Tibet and West China see Central Asia. For Philippines see South East Asia.

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In the Chinese Province of Inner Mongolia they use a fretless tobshuur that looks very much like the well known cello of the Mongolians, the Morin Khuur.
Like the Morin Khuur this tobshuur also has a nicely carved horse head on the top and a quite rectangular body. It is made in a factory.

The body is built like a guitar, with some soft wood front. The back, sides and neck are painted. The neck is flush with the soundboard and has no fingerboard and no frets. The two sound holes look a bit like f-holes. The decoration lines near the edge and the Mongolian signs are painted on the wood.

The neck ends with a joined-on pegbox, with a carved horse head. The two (nylon) strings are tuned with a flat T-shaped wooden peg on each side of the open pegbox. The strings go over a small loose bridge and are fixed by tying through two holes in a strip of wood at the bottom of the body.

The tobshuur is strummed with the right finger (or a plectrum) and often only the first string is fingered (and the second with the thumb). It is mainly used to accompany throat singing.

In Mongolia (the country) the tobshuur has a different shape. Although it used to be made with a skin top (like a banjo), nowadays they have changed to wooden tops for more volume. Also quite recently the idea of a swan has turned up. On CD's of Mongolian music these instruments are now often called "swan-neck-lutes". The idea of the swan is not only used for the shape of the head, but also for the two sound holes (cut in the front), and for the body. It seems not factory made. The instrument resembles much the Tuva bowed lute igli, which has a leather front and a horsehead peghead.

The body of this tobshuur is carved from one piece of wood, with on the back the carving of two wings. The neck is joined to the body and is, together with the peghead, made of one piece of wood. The peghead has a carving of a swan head. The eyes and the beack are painted. The fretless neck is flush with the soundboard and has no fingerboard (the black is painted on).

The tobshuur has two (now nylon) strings, tuned with a round wooden tuning peg on each side of the (open on the back) pegbox. The strings go through holes near the nut to the back. The strings go over a rather big loose wooden bridge, and are fixed to a wooden pin at the end of the body.

The tobshuur is strummed with the right finger and often only the first string is fingered (or the second with the thumb). It is mainly used to accompany singing.

This is another tobshuur or as it is called in USSR : topshur or khomys. It looks more like the traditional tobshuur, as it has a skin front; but also like the Tuva bowed lute igli.

The body of the topshur is carved from a solid block of wood in a smooth oval shape, and a small round soundhole in middle of the the back. The leather skin is not glued, but stretched by means of many pieces of (nylon) rope all around the back of the wooden body. In the skin are 3 small decoration holes. The neck and (square) peghead are made from a separate piece of wood. All the wood is painted dark brown.

The topshur has two nylon (guitar) strings, which are tuned by a round wooden peg on each side of the (open on the back) pegbox. The strings go passed a plastic nut through small holes to the back. At the other end they run over a rather big loose wooden bridge to a small wooden pin at the end of the body.

The neck is not rounded, but 5-sided and slightly raised above the skin; it has no fret board. The frets are in western scale, and are made from wound nylon, but in one long binding, so all frets are joined.

The topshur is strummed with the right finger and often only the first string is fingered. It is mainly used to accompany singing.

Note that a khomus is the name of a jaw harp.     The back of the topshur, with the ropes to fix the skin.

This instrument is in fact the large size Chinese sanxian, which is often used in the Mongolian area, and then called shanz or shudraga.

It has three nylon strings and is played in similar style (with plectrum) to accompany singing.

In Tuva (a small USSR republic just north-west of Mongolia) they use a kind of plucked instrument which is quite similar to the tobshuur, but called doshpuluur (also spelled : toshpulur, tochpuluur, dospulur, etc.)

It is a kind of banjo, but usually with a square wooden body, with goatskin on both sides. Sometimes (pine) wood is used for this.

The (pine wood) neck is long and has two or three metal strings. Often the peghead has a carving of a horse (very common around Mongolia). Some instruments have a few frets. Nowadays the strings are the lower 3 guitar strings, tuned with 3 separate guitar tuners; the long wooden pegs are just decoration.

Tuning could be C G c.

The doshpuluur is played strumming (usually only the first string is fingered, the other string(s) are drones), to accompany throat singing.   left : Choduraa Tumat from Tuva playing square box doshpuluur (from Russian website)

In Tuva they use a second kind of plucked instrument, which is quite similar to the shudraga and called the chanzy (also seen : chanzi and tyanzi). It is regarded as a special shaped doshpuluur.

It is a kind of (round) banjo, with a (goat or snake) skin glued on the front of a round wooden hoop. It has some decorative wooden box around it (made of triplex), in a kind of heart shape (some call it kidney-shape). Usually it has two similar soundholes and some painted decoration. The example instrument has a Ying-Yang shaped black plastic scratchplate glued to the skin.

The neck is long and made of pine wood. Some models have frets, others not or (like the example) only drawn on. Like on the doshpuluur the three (nylon) strings are tuned by modern guitar tuners - the long pegs are just for decoration. Often the peghead has a carving of a horse (very common on instruments around Mongolia). The strings run over a rather large loose bridge on the skin to pegs on the bottom of the body. Tuning could be F c f.

The chanzy is played strumming (usually only the first string is fingered, the other string(s) are drones), to accompany throat singing.
from Russian website

shamisen

The shamisen (or samisen) is the most well known Japanese plucked instrument, which arrived around the 16th C in mainland Japan via the Chinese sanxian and the Okinawa sanshin. Both predecessors used python snake as skin, but for some reason the Japanese started using the skin of dog, or cat (which is more expensive because you can get less skin from one cat...). Nowadays also plastic is used like on western banjos. Putting on a skin at the very high tension that is required, is work of specialists. As is the woodwork : the neck is made of 3 pieces which fit together (with special lips and holes) so tightly that you can hardly see the joins.

The body of the shamisen is made from 4 pieces of hardwood, joined so they make an almost square hoop. On front and back a dog or cat skin is glued. The neck is made from 3 pieces of hard wood : one goes through the body, (with the endpin used to fix the strings to); the middle is just a piece of neck and the top piece has the pegbox glued to it. The fretless neck is halfround and has no fretboard. The pegbox has a curve backwards and ends in a rather sharp edge - often protected by a piece of black plastic. The left side of the body is protected with a piece of decorative cardboard.

The 3 silk strings can be tuned by 3 long wooden tuning pegs on the side of the open pegbox : two on the right, one on the left. The rim of the holes is made of copper. The brass nut is only for the first 2 strings; the 3rd runs over a cavaty to make the string buzzing, like the biwa strings.

The strings run over a loose small, neatly carved bamboo bridge, and are tied to 3 coloured silk ropes. These are fixed to the end of the neck sticking through the body. By slightly loosening the strings, these ropes come loose from the pin and the strings can be wound around the pegs, the neck taken in pieces and the entire shamisen fits in a small bag.

The shamisen is played with an enormous triangular plectrum (of different kinds of wood, but nowadays often made of plastic), which not only picks the strings, but also hits the skin at certain notes.
The music is written in Japanese tablature, which gives quite detailed instructions how to play. The shamisen comes in slightly different sizes for different types of music. The most well known use is in the BUNRAKU puppet theater.

For more information see shammy, japan and hogaku.it shamisen (in Italian).

biwa

The biwa is the Japanese lute, and looks much like its predecessor -the Chinese pipa. However it is quite differently played and the sound is also completely different. There exist several types of biwa, which differ in size and tuning. For more information see japan and hogaku.it biwa (in Italian).

The body of the biwa is carved from one piece of hardwood, with a thin softwood soundboard, slightly rounded. This has two half moon shaped sound holes, with bone inlay around them. The back has vague carvings, like glued on papers. The neck is part of the body (although on the example both the neck and the pegbox can be taken separate). The (5) high frets (and the top bridge) are made from small piles of different woods, with a rounded top. The pegbox is square and bend backwards, ending in a curl upwards.

The 4 silk strings are tuned with long round wooden tuning pegs, 2 on each side of the open bexbox. They are fixed to the bridge, which is a carved piece of wood glued to the front, and has bone (?) decoration on the sides and around the string fixing holes.

The biwa is played with a big size triangular plectrum, which not only hits the strings but also the soundboard. Often there is a piece of decorative leather or paper glued to the front where the plectrum hits the wood. Because of the round shape of the top of the frets the strings buzz. Often the strings are pressed down between the frets to get the pitches in between frets.

As biwas are rarely made anymore, you are lucky to find one - the example instrument has burn marks on the front, and missed the pegs and one fret, which are replaced by some look-alikes.

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sanshin

The sanshin is a banjo, like the Chinese sanxian (where the name seems to come from) and its close relative : the Japanese shamisen. It is the "national" instrument of Okinawa - one of the Japanese islands.

The body of the sanshin is made from some pieces of wood glued together to form an almost round hoop. On front and back a skin is glued. This used to be made from python, but nowadays often a nylon skin with python imprint is used. The fretless neck with (shamisen-style) pegbox is made from one piece of wood, painted all black. The 3 nylon strings are tuned with 3 long round wooden pegs (often black with white endings), 2 on the right and one on the left of the open pegbox. The strings run over a small loose plastic bridge to a decorative piece of rope-knot which is hooked on a pin at the bottom of the body. Around the body is a piece of cloth with embroidery with special Okinawa decoration patterns.

The instrument is played with a special finger-like plectrum, which fits over the index finger. It is made of horn or nowadays : plastic.

The sanshin is mainly used to accompany folk songs.

For more information see uruma.co.jp sanshin (in Japanese).

The special fingerpick to play the sanshin.

gekkin

The gekkin is the close relative of the Chinese yueh chin.

The instrument is almost the same : so two circles of softwood, joined by a narrow strip of hardwood. A separate neck, with a sickle shape pegbox, ending in a decorative plate at the front with some woodcarving.
Long rounded friction pegs, two on each side of the open pegbox. Bamboo strips glued to the fingerboard are used as frets.

The main difference (if any) is that the 4 silk strings are 4 separate courses (sometimes only 3 strings), and sometimes there is special decoration or soundholes on the front.

Tuning could be a d' a' d".

It is played with a plectrum, but the gekkin is hard to find nowadays.


For more information see Gekkin (in Japanese).

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taishogoto

Surprising to find the simple folk-like Indian bullbull tarang (see India) to be quite popular in Japan, where it is called taishogoto (also spelled: taisho-koto). Maybe this is the reason why this instrument is often called "Japanese Banjo". Some instruments are electric and even have electronic devices attached to it.

Basically the taishogoto is a long acoustic sound box, with strings on top (close together), which can be tuned on the left side, and strummed with a pick on the right side. With the left hand you can press typewriter-like keys, which press down small metal bars on the strings, and work as frets. The keys are usually numbered (both in India and Japan, music is notated in numbers, like our do, re, mi), according to their relative pitch.

See more information here : Taishoharp.

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komungo

The komungo is a long zither, quite similar to the Japanese koto, or the Korean kayagum. Although zithers are excluded from this website, the komungo is fretted so one string can be used for different pitches.

The body is made from usually paulownia wood, hollowed out at the bottom like a half tube. The back, and both ends are pieces of hardwood. There are 16 fixed frets for the 3 inner strings and 3 movable bridges for the 3 outer strings (which are always played open). The high frets are made of hardwood.

The 6 silk strings are at the players right side fixed to a small piece of wood, and run from underneath through a hole in the body, over the wide nut/bridge to the other side of the zither and are there tied with a special knot to a long silk rope, which is tied to the end of the body.

The komungo is played sitting crosslegged with the right side of the instrument on the lap. The strings are not strummed with the fingers, but with a bamboo stick as plectrum. Nevertheless, the sound is quite similar to the koto and kayagum, which are always played with (long) open strings.

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VIETNAM

In Vietnam most instrument resemble quite closely the Chinese ones, some even have similar names. However some instruments only exist in Vietnam, like the Dan Day and Dan Bau (DAN means LUTE).
In general the Vietnamese instruments nowadays seem to be very highly decorated, with lots of inlayed mother-of-pearl all over the instrument.

Much information about Vietnamese instruments can be found on : vnstyle.vdc.com.vn vietnam music.

dan nguyet / dan kim

The Dan Nguyet or Dan Kim is a relative of the Chinese yueh chin or ruan, but with a much longer neck and only two strings.

The front and back of the body of the Dan Nguyet are made from a round piece of unvarnished soft wood (diameter of about 350 mm). The side is made of bended hardwood, 60 mm in height. There is no soundhole. The neck is separate, without a fingerboard and glued to the body. The peghead is made from one piece, slightly sickle shaped and ending in a spade-like backward curve with some inlay decoration.

On both sides of the open pegbox is a long rounded tuning peg, ending with decorative slices of different materials. Often the Dan Nguet still has holes for 4 pegs, but nowadays only 2 strings (and pegs) are used.
The frets are pieces of hardwood, with the rim of bamboo. They are in a kind of pentatonic scale, based on 7 intervals in an octave. Two nylon strings (tuned to a fifth or a fourth) run to a carved wooden bridge, glued to the front.

In the past, instrumentalist used his/her fingernails to play Dan Nguyet. Nowadays, they play it with a plastic or tortoise-shell plectrum.

Dan Nguyet is used to accompany singing, in ceremonial music and in the traditional orchestra.

Vietnamese instruments are nowadays highly decorated with many mother-of-pearl figures inlayed on sides, neck, pegbox and bridge.

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dan sen

The Dan Sen is a slightly smaller instrument than the Dan Nguyet, but is in fact made in the same way.

The body of the Dan Sen has the shape of a flower (with 6 "petals") and two thin nylon strings.
In addition to the different body shape compared to the Dan Nguyet, the frets of the Dan Sen are fixed in a diatonic scale instead of the pentatonic scale of the Dan Nguyet, based on 7 intervals in an octave.

The side of the body, the bridge, and the neck are highly decorated with inlay mother-of-pearl.

It is only used in the Hat Boi (Traditional Drama) in South Vietnam.

detail of the inlay on the side of the dan sen

dan doan / dan nhat

The Dan Doan looks very similar to the Chinese yueh chin (moonguitar). It is sometimes also called Dan Nhat.

The Dan Doan has a round thin sound box with a short neck and three (silk or nylon) strings. The frets are strips of bamboo, glued to the neck and soundboard, in a diatonic scale.

It is played with a plectrum.

dan day

The Dan Day lute is a plucking chordophone of the Viet majority. Its literary name as Vo de cam or "bottom-less lute". It can be found only in Vietnam.

The sound box of a Dan Day has the shape of a trapezium of hardwood with sides of 28x20 cm, and a depth of 6 cm. The front is made of unvarnished light softwood.

The back is also softwood, but with a rectangular sound hole, covered with a wood rosette. The very long neck (about 80 cm body to nut) is glued into the body (it seems to go right to the bottom with a pole)and continues into the peghead, which widens in a curved banian leaf shape. It has 3 long rounded pegs : two at the right and one at the left side of the pegbox which is open on the back.

There are no frets on the top half of the neck, only lower down are 10 high frets, made of hardwood with a rim of bamboo. The 3 nylon strings run to a box- shaped bridge, glued to the front.
The tuning of the Dan Day is in 4ths. When the player presses at the first fret over the three strings, the three tones are : g c' f'.

The playing of the traditional Dan Day lute differs from other lutes by something peculiar : open strings are never played. It is used exclusively by men to accompany the "A Dao" singing genre in North Vietnam.

dan tam

This three-stringed banjo-lute is used by several ethnic groups in Vietnam. The Viet call it Dan Tam, whereas the Ha Nhi call it Ta in.
The Dan Tam exists in three sizes: large, medium, and small. The small one is the most popular. It is quite similar to the Chinese sanxian, and a relative of the Japanese shamisen, and the Mongolian shanz.

The sound box of the Dan Tam is oval-shaped, with (python) snake skin on the front. In fact the front is rounded wood, with a small square hole in the middle; the skin seems to be glued to the rounded edge.

The back and sides of the body are made of wood. The back has a carved soundhole. The neck is made of hard wood and fretless. There are three round wooden pegs, two on the right, one on the left of the open pegbox. The three strings were traditionally made of twisted silk, but are nowadays usually nylon. They run through a small wooden device bound to the neck that can slide up and down, providing a movable nut (and scale length). Tuning is normally f c' f'.

Playing is with a plastic plectrum. The tones of the Dan Tam are bright and cheerful. The techniques for the left hand include tremolos, trills, picking, stopping and especially sliding. Full tones, three-quarter tones and quarter-tones can be played. The Dan Tam is often part of an orchestra accompanying Cheo drama.

Left : the back of the body with the soundhole. Right : the rounded front with the python skin.

dan tyba

The Dan Tyba is very much similar to the Chinese pipa. The main difference is that the top six frets are not triangular, but just the same high strips of wood that are used for the rest of the frets. They are in a heptatonic scale.

Nowadays the instruments in Vietnam seem to be very highly decorated with mother of pearl inlay; not only the neck and bridge, but also the back of the body.

The 4 strings are made of nylon, and tuned g c' d' g'.

The player uses a plectrum and plucks either upward or downward in a quick run. The technique for left hand, which presses the strings, includes glissando, staccato, arpeggio and tremolo. The Dan Tyba music is light and cheerful. The instrument is played solo or as part of an orchestra or a band accompanying the singing of Hue melodies or operas.

dan bau

ghita

The ghita (or Dan Ghi-ta) is a remarkable guitar-shaped instrument, but typical of the Vietnamese instruments. It is also called luc huyen cam.

The story is that the Vietnamese who emigrated to USA in the 1930's were eager to get an instrument that could be played like their home instruments - when you pluck a thin string between high frets (like on the Dan Nguyet for instance) you can easily bend the tone up by pressing a bit harder. To reach that same effect on a guitar (which was easy to buy in USA) they scraped the fingerboard between the frets in a scalloped way. The frets were left in place. (This is now also done by some guitar players to ease very fast playing). The number of strings was reduced to 5 and tuned in an open tuning, like c f c' g' c''.

The example instrument is actually made in Vietnam (in a hybrid Fender fashion), with 6 tuning machines, but 5 strings, over a loose bridge. The instrument seems to have been bashed about quite a lot and is even painted at some stage. However the special scalloped fingerboard has survived it all.

dan tinh

Dan Tinh is a kind of banjo, played by some ethnic groups in north Vietnam. The Tay and Nung calls it Tinh Then, while the Thai ethnic group calls it Tinh Tau (Tinh means a lute and Tau means a gourd).

The body of the Dan Tinh is made from a thick, round bottle-gourd. On the back are 6 small soundholes. The front is often made from thin cinnamon wood whioch is glued in the rim of the cut-off gourd. The bridge is a trapezium-shape small piece of wood, loose on the front.

The neck of instrument is made of one piece of some hardwood (often Thung muc or strawberry wood) and goes with a pin through the gourd and sticks out at the bottom. Traditionally the length of a Tinh lute is equal to 0.9x the fist’s length of the player (or 75-90 cm). Experience shows that this length would best fit with the player’s voice. There are no frets.

The tuning head is in the shape of a sickle (or a bird) and has two round friction pegs, one on each side. Formerly, the strings were made from silk, polished with beeswax or the resin of sweet potato leaves. Nowadays they are replaced by normal (less tasty...) nylon strings. They are fastened to the neck pin at the bottom of the body.

Dan Tinh has either two or three strings. The two-string Tinh is tuned at a fourth or fifth. The three-string Tinh is the same, with the 3th string tuned an octave lower than the high string.

The Dan Tinh is played with a plectrum. Fingering techniques are mainly slipping, glissando, slurring, mordent and vibrating.

Dan Tinh is used by several ethnic groups to accompany singing. It is normally played by men only, but in Then of the Tay ethnic group it is played by women only.