THESE are Japanese instruments. The Siamisen and Biwa were drawn by permission of the Japanese Commission of the Inventions Exhibition, 1885. The Kokiu in the centre of the plate, and its long fishing-rod bow in four lengths of black wood mounted with silver, belong to the writer.

The Siamisen is the commonest Japanese stringed instrument, and is played by the singing girls (Gesha); it has been the characteristic musical instrument at the Japanese Village, Knightsbridge, London. The name was there pronounced Samiseng (the a as in father), and Dr. MÜller, in an elaborate article on Japanese musical instruments in the Mittheilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft fÜr Natur und VÖlkerkunde Ostasien's, 6tes Heft. (Berlin, 1884), invariably writes Samiseng, but the spelling Siamisen is here adopted on the authority of Mr. Shuji Isawa, the Director of the School of Music, Tokio. In length it is about 37 inches, and has a resonance membrane of parchment stretched upon a nearly square wooden body that is 7½ inches high, 6½ wide, and 3 deep. There is a knob on the under side for a string holder, and the upper and under sides of it are covered with a selected part of a cat's skin, on which the bridge also rests. By the little black spots on this skin the value of the instrument is determined. Four give the highest value; two mark ordinary instruments; while those without spots are cheap. The size of the Siamisen is determined by the singer's voice. Good voices are high voices; consequently a good singer requires a smaller one. For convenience in moving about, the body and neck are made to separate. It has three silk strings and in common practice as many accordances, viz. music, music and music. It is without frets, but the fingered scale which the Japanese musicians at the London "village" appeared to know only, was indicated by small marks upon the neck, and agreed with the tuning of the thirteen-stringed koto. It has thus five intervals in the octave, that differ, however, from the Chinese pentatonic scale, and from that known in Java as Salendro. The Japanese, as heard at the "village," may be described, when descending, as a major third, a semitone, a neuter or mean third (neither major nor minor, but equivalent to a three-quarter tone and a whole tone), thus music—the × denoting the mean third. This was accepted as right by natives of various parts of Japan brought together in the village whose speech dialects were not the same, although their musical dialect was thus uniform. However, since Mr. Isawa gives the interval as a minor third, and in performances which I have heard the minor effect certainly predominates, I am disposed to accept the mean third here recorded as only a widening of the normal minor third. Great latitude has to be allowed in dealing with scales, especially those of non-harmonic origin. Our own equal temperament narrowing of the same interval is rarely noticed by us, and passes as a matter of course. The Siamisen is employed to accompany the dancing and singing women, and its tones are an important aid to the effect of their performance.

The plectrum of the Siamisen is called in Japanese Batsi. It is shown in the plate.

The Kokiu is a kind of fiddle, in its construction very like the Siamisen, only that it is played with a bow (kiu) instead of a plectrum or striker (batsi). It is usually a woman's instrument, but is now very little played. Dr. MÜller only heard one player in Tokio, a blind man, from whom he took his description of the instrument and the manner of performance. The whole length of the Kokiu is about 25 inches, the body being 5 inches long and broad. It is 2½ inches deep and covered like the Siamisen. Instead of the string-holder of the latter it has a 2½ inch long round metal slip to which the strings are knotted. The bridge is long and very low, with notches to receive the strings; three being equally spaced, while the fourth is very near the third. The strings are tuned music, the two near each other being unisons of the highest note. The bow is 45 inches long, of four lengths as already mentioned. It takes to pieces for transport. It is flat behind and oval in front. It is bent at the top nearly to a right angle, and the whole rod is very elastic. It is strung with white horsehair about 32 inches long, the horsehair being imported, as there is no long horsehair in Japan. It is fastened with a silken knot into a silver holder. In order to play the Kokiu the bow is taken with the thumb, middle, and little fingers, the index finger being extended along the back. With stretched-out fourth finger the player strains the slack hair of the bow, then takes up the instrument, vertically resting it upon the knees, between which the metal string-holder is grasped. Bringing the hair of the bow to the edge of the resonance body, the bow is simply moved horizontally backwards and forwards, the middle part of the bowstring only being employed. The strings are brought into contact with the bow by a rotary movement of the instrument. Sometimes only one E flat string is used, sometimes both. Double notes are very rarely used. The sound of the Kokiu is very like that of the Hurdy-Gurdy, but much weaker in comparison.

The Biwa is a lute-like instrument in the shape of a divided pear, becoming narrower upwards. The body is about 34 inches long, of which 7½ come on to the finger-board. There are four frets on the finger-board. It has four strings in two thicknesses tuned, according to Dr. MÜller, prime, quint, octave, tenth, like an infantry bugle, but Dr. Isawa gives no less than six accordances. The Biwa is played with a bill-formed batsi 6½ inches long, made of horn, wood, tortoiseshell, or ivory.

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