$30 kouki shamisen

Building/Repair
#1

I just got my new shamisen in the mail from eBay. It’s a beat up old mitsutori nagauta that is missing pretty much everything however the wood appears to be either kouki or shitan and is in pretty good shape. It must have been abandoned for a long time because one side of each piece is covered in a thick layer of dust and grime. The inside of the itogura and dou were filthy and full of cobwebs. The inside of the dou also has a lot of japanese writing which I can’t really read, and the inside of the mitsutori has some kanji as well but it is quite smeared from use. The mitsutori joints fit together extremely tight.

The only real problem this shamisen has is that the nakago is inexplicably missing (maybe the glue wasn’t very good?) so I will have to carve another one plus there is a small chip in the tenjin. Also the only remaining ivory itomaki is snapped in half so I will probably carve some new ones out of some ivory colored plastic. Obviously it needs a new kamigoma, zagane, kawa, etc.

So what do you guys think? A decent purchase for $30 or just a fancy pile of firewood? And does anyone have any ideas on what to make the new nakago out of? I was thinking maybe bloodwood or black/brown ebony.

On a side note my package from the Bachido store containing my tsugaru stuff just arrived at the same time as my nagauta! Merry Christmas to me!

#2

Looks like a fancy pile of firewood.
I’d say, if it does not have any cracks near itomaki fittings, it won’t be very difficult to renew it.

#3

Yeah KH at first glance I thought it was a pile of garbage. But luckily there’s no cracks or warpage and the wood is very solid. I figured it would be a fun thing to play around with for only $30.

I am now pretty sure that the wood is shitan and not kouki. Just got back from the local hard wood supplier with a piece of Honduran rosewood that is an almost perfect match to carve a new nakago out of.

#4

i think that’s a good buy myself, for a handy diy-er, should keep you occupied for 2 mins

#5

Maybe that’s what I should have done, I’m been running into some issues here with my wood lately that have started making me mad, I could have just got an old beat up one and restored it.

Good luck in fixing it!

#6

If you can fix it, $30 doesn’t seem to bad. Are you sure the itomaki is ivory though? Looks like some kind of bone. guess that’s technically what ivory is though huh…

#7

Chris- what issues were you having with yours? Originally the reason why I bought this fixer-upper was because I had some problems with making my first tsugaru (mainly with carving out the saruo and various parts of the tenjin) and wanted to see how those areas looked on a “real” shamisen before I start building my next one out of nicer materials. Don’t give up on yours just yet since it is way more satisfying to build your own!

Are you sure the itomaki is ivory though?

I really have no idea to be honest. It is kind of a yellowish-white color and feels like soft plastic. It has faint lines like wood grain running through it and doesn’t seem porous like bone. Not like it matters since it is broken and useless. Hmm… maybe I could use bone for the replacements though.

#8

All the wood is splitting really badly, even as I was sawing it would split the wood on the Sao and Tenjin, I had to be insanely careful with the Chisel and I think I’m actually going to have to pull out the dremel and sand it to is shape with it… I’ve never had this bad of luck with wood before, figures it would do it to me now XD

If I can’t finish it nicely I think I’m going to break down and buy a Tsugaru Style Shamisen

#9

You are using purpleheart wood right? I heard that really hard woods like that can simply splinter away when you work with them. How sharp are your tools? When I did my tenjin (out of fairly soft wood mind you) I was literally sharpening my chisel every 30 to 45 minutes. You might also want to try using a sharper, finer toothed saw. A Japanese ryoba specially designed for hard woods would be ideal.

#10

I think it is worth the $30 just for reference material. Aside from that the dou looks fine and that is easily worth $30 when you consider how long it would take you to make it (from a lesser wood).

If the broken itomaki is ivory it can be re-purposed. Clean the grime off of it first. You can then bleach it to a much whiter shade by putting it in 3% hydrogen peroxide for a few days. Change out the solution when it gets weak. This piece of ivory may be able to be used for a koma or an inkan.

#11

Thanks for the info Michael. I was thinking about using it to make some koma along with the block of bamboo that Dan mailed me but sadly I know nothing about working with ivory.

I’d really like to restore the rest of the shamisen as well. It would be a shame to just let it rot away. It all depends on if I can successfully replace the missing nakago and polish the wood up.

#12

I think there are few people in the world who would be so loathe as to let a genuine piece of ivory go, especially for less than $30, but if it is indeed than the broken itomaki by itself is worth much more than that. Good bargain hunting Cody, I wish you success!

#13

Reading through some threads today, I’ve seen a few of these with the necks that break apart. I’m curious, are they more desirable than ones with solid necks, or is it just a personal preference thing? The one I snagged on ebay (Still waiting for it to arrive) has a solid neck.

#14

There are two main reasons for a three piece neck. First is so you can take it apart to make it more portable. Second is that supposedly it makes the neck less likely to warp over time as the wood expands and contracts with the changing environment.

It’s moreso for increased portability. As long as you don’t throw your shamisen in a lake it shouldn’t warp too much on you.

#15

They should put chains between 'em. So you always have nun chucks if you happen to find yourself in a ninja fight. :wink:

#16

If you go with the one-piece neck you can hide a katana inside it.

#17

ahhh one of my fave Takeshi Kitano films has a nice sized blade in a shamisen…

#18

Yeah with hardwood, I had noticable dulling after about 6 minutes on my chisels. The splintering has been happening and I was expecting that. They saw I have is the finest one I have, maybe I’ll have to buy a ryoba and give that a shot but all my sawing is almost done with, its chiseling that is killing me.

#19

The paper pasted inside seems to be from the shop that repaired the skin. The date seems to be Showa 11, which would be 1936. The shop name is Yamaso, but I can’t see the location clearly enough to read it. The owner’s name is Suzuki. I can’t read anything of the letters written directly on the inside of the dou, but probably some kind of notation by the maker. I agree that at the very least, you can learn something from this. Your description of the itomaki material sounds like it could be ivory–hard to tell from a photo. I don’t think they would have used plastic in those days–ivory was pretty standard, and less expensive than it is now. Good luck with it, maybe something interesting will come from this project!

#20

Thanks for the translation John! I had a feeling it was pretty old. I really want to restore it to its former glory but I don’t even know where to start. It needs pretty much everything.

© 2020 Kyle Abbott