Jefe and the Three String

I'm Jeff and these are my misadventures learning how to play the Sanshin

[jefeandthethreestring]

Tuning and Finger Positions

After a few trips and a new baby I’m back!

Tuning for the sanshin is a bit different than the guitar. And the lack of frets makes everything a bit more difficult. There are several popular tunings. The standard one is Hon Choshi.

The open strings are tuned to C3 F3 and C4. In the diagram above I’ve also included the note placement, length down the neck the notes are and which finger is used to play each note. The standard tuning is used for more traditional okinawan music. For more western music it seems like an augmentation on this tuning is better.

This is a variant of the standard tuning where the middle string is raised a full tone. The result of which creates an open chord with C and it’s 5th G. Essentially a sanshin power chord. Consequently we can use this for any chord by baring all the strings.

I’ve included the western notes for all the finger positions. You could then read music and play the notes. Tablature for these wouldn’t be difficult either with the exception being finger position 1 which would be the half tone up from open. Luckily the neck is narrow enough that this isn’t terribly difficult to get to.

Traditional okinawan music is written in a form called Kunkunshi. In this form each finger position has a name and the music is written as a list of those names. (Top Down, Right to Left)

[jefeandthethreestring]

A History

The Three String has a vibrant and heartbreaking history spread out over the last 700 years. Originally created in China, it found it’s way to the Ryukyu Kingdom, and then onto Japan. Each move making changes in form and materials, but still maintaining the basic foundation of the instrument.

Note: I am no historian, if you have more accurate info please let me know

Chinese Sanxian

Photo Credit : Dr. Meierhofer

The original three string from China is called the Sanxian, which translates as well to Three String. The first known appearance of the Sanxian is from a stone sculpture in the late 1200s. The next appearance would be found in Ming Dynasty documents in the 1300s.

The construction of the Sanxian is very similar to the later Okinawan Sanshin, both having a python snake skin drum as the resonator, one long fretless neck, and three strings. The Sanxian is also played with an animal horn. The Sanxian lacks the decorative body wrap that the Sanshin has, and is quite a bit longer at 122cm compared to the Sanshin’s 80cm.

Ryukyuan Sanshin

After centuries of war, the Ryukyu Kingdom was united and soon became a Tributary state of China in the 1400s. This allowed for the Ryukyu Kingdom to have trade between China and other Chinese Tributary states. It was in this time that the Sanxian found its way to the Ryukyu islands and the Ryukuans took it and evolved it’s design into the shorter Sanshin. It would become a staple for the culture of the Ryukyu royal courts. Being an active trade partner with China allowed for the gathering of all the materials needed for the construction of the  Sanshin including the Python skin necessary for the Drum.

Japanese Shamisen

Photo Credit : Wolcott, Katherine

The Ryukyu Kingdom maintained a period of peace from the 1400′s to the early 1600′s when the Shogunate of Japan decided to invade the Ryukyu islands forcing the royalty to surrender. Japan did not have a trading relationship with China at this point, and sought to use the Ryukyu Islands as an intermediary for a trade relationship. So for all public appearances, the Ryukyu Kingdom would remain an independent tributary state of China and maintain all trade agreements while secretly being under Japanese Rule. This would last until the Meiji Restoration in 1868 when the Ryukyu Kingdom was officially integrated into Japan and become the Prefecture of Okinawa.

During this period the Sanshin would find it’s way to mainland Japan. The Japanese took the main concepts of the design with having three strings, a drum and fretless neck. The drum would instead be made out of animal skin, and instead of the animal horn pick, they would make a wider ivory tipped wood pick.

The main musical difference between the Shamisen and the Sanshin and Sanxian is the noticeable buzz when playing the bass string.

Okinawan Kankara Sanshin

The next evolution of the three string would come in 1945 during WW2. The Okinawa islands became a major strategic area for Japan and for the US to get into Japan. Rising tensions and agressions led the U,S, invading Okinawa resulting in the Battle of Okinawa which had over 150,000 Okinawan civilian casualties. With their homes and culture in pieces and their island occupied by the U.S., the survivors were put into detention camps until the U.S. decided what to do with them. It was in these camps that the Okinawan people created the Kankara Sanshin. With little material to work with, they used thrown out cans and pots as the main drum of the instrument and fitting in wood for the neck. It was these instruments that gave the Okinawan people caught between the military might of mainland Japan and the U.S. some semblance of hope in the coming years.

References

https://www.britannica.com/art/sanxian

http://www.uchinanchu.org/uchinanchu/history_early.htm

Handbook of the Ryukyuan Languages: History, Structure, and Use

http://chicagookinawakenjinkai.blogspot.com/2011/02/kankara-sanshin-built-of-necessity.html

[hotkage]

How to Make A Kankara Sanshin

[jefeandthethreestring]

Anatomy

Before jumping into the music, I wanted to get a good understanding of what the instrument is, what the different parts are, and a bit about it’s history. I’ll cover the history of the instrument in the next post, for now I want to go over the different parts. Like with most stringed instruments, there are three main parts of the Sanshin, The body, the neck and the strings.

The Body (Dou)

What acts as the resonator in the Sanshin body is a snake skin drum called the Dou. The Sanshin I picked up is synthetic snake skin. The reasons I picked this one up were the lower cost, the inability to bring real snake skin back into Canada, and to save one slithery friend’s fate from becoming a guitar (even though that’s super metal). Although there are plenty of habu snakes in Okinawa, they are actually too small to make a Sanshin body from. Traditionally, Burmese python skins were imported, but due to regulations other varieties of python are imported now. 

The drum is wrapped with a decorative sash called the Doumaki. This basically means body wrap or body roll, a pretty straight forward name for it. The design on mine is the symbol of the Ryukyu Kingdom, the original name for the Okinawa island nation. Look to the upcoming post for more information on this.

The Neck (Sou)

The neck is made from one piece of wood and fit through the snake skin drum. Unlike a guitar, the neck of a Sanshin has no frets. There are guide dots on the side of the neck of beginner Sanshins. In an upcoming post I will go into the process of adding some to my own Sanshin. 

The strings are held and tuned on the top end of the Sanshin with three pegs called Karakui. Unfortunately one peg snapped when bringing it back from Okinawa. I did manage to fix it with wood glue. Fingers cross that it doesn’t break again. The pegs fit snuggly within the top of the neck. I have to push them in with a fair amount of force so that the strings keep their tune.

Three Strings

Where the Sanshin gets it’s name is from the three strings. Each has it’s own name. The thickest is the male string, then the middle, then the female string as the thinest.

The bridge that holds the strings above the body is called the uma. Supposedly produces a better sound when made of bamboo. This one is made of plastic. When storing the Sanshin, I just flip the uma down to reduce tension on the strings, and when I’m ready to rock I just flip it up and place it about two inches from the base. Surprisingly, it does keep it’s tune sometimes.

The strings are held across the body with the strongly knit knot called Itokake. You can see in the photo that this is wrapped around the end of the neck that passes through the drum.

You can play the Sanshin with a piece called the Bachi. Traditionally made from water bufallo horn. I believe this one is either ceramic or plastic. It’s a bit tricky to use but I think works well for the style of music that is played on it. I picked up a few picks to make playing a bit more familiar and to make performing faster songs easier. 

That’s essentially what there is to a Sanshin. Pretty simple instrument with some neat parts. In the next post I’ll go into the history and evolution of the instrument throughout Asia. 

[jefeandthethreestring]

An Introduction

I’m Jeff, but everyone calls me Jefe (he-fe).

A summarized history of my life is: childhood, high school, guitar teacher, rock band, university, job, hate job, marriage, quit job, stay-at-home-dad-no-kids.

Now that that’s out of the way, what's the point of this?

On a recent trip to Okinawa with my wife, I picked up a local musical instrument called the Sanshin. Which translates to Three String. With a small amount of musical knowledge, minimal English guide material, and whole lot of free time, I set out to learn how to play this Asian Banjo.

Join me as we begin the adventures of Jefe and the Three String!