Ichigenkin

An ichigenkin (一絃琴^?, literally "one-string zither") is a Japanese single-stringed zither. Its slender, flat body is carved from kiri (Paulownia tomentosa) wood. Its silk string is plucked with a pointed tubular plectrum placed on the index finger of the right hand while the rokan (a tubular ivory device similar to a guitar slide placed over the middle finger of the left hand) slightly depresses the string—though not so hard that it presses against the hardwood soundboard—to vary the pitch. As with the Chinese guqin, from which it was likely originally adapted, the ichigenkin has no frets, so sliding tones are an important part of the technique of the instrument.

Although the ichigenkin has its own solo repertoire, it is also used to accompany traditional singing. The instrument was once popular among samurai, literati, and priests, but today players of the instrument are very rare. The Canadian multi-instrumentalist Randy Raine-Reusch, perhaps the only non-Japanese ichigenkin performer, has composed and recorded new works for the instrument.

A similar instrument is the Azuma nigenkin, often referred to simply as nigenkin.[1]

See also

• Music of Japan

External links

• Ichigenkin.com
• Ichigenkin page on ASZA website
• Ichigenkin Japanese Maker Page Has some MP3s of several pieces

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