I was wondering what exactly were those little dot marks on the upper skin of many shamisen: http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/219273shinunjpimg600x398130604824606thhm61165.jpg . They are always at the same place, do they have a purpose or are they only decorative? I’ve never seen them on a tsugaru shamisen; is it something specific to the nagauta or jiuta ones?
Hi Elodie,
Those are nipples. Nagauta shamisen uses the belly side of the cat, thus the nipples are shown (censor that shamisen! 
) Tsugaru shamisen uses the backside of dog, so there isn’t the same marks.
Nagauta shamisen are streakers! D:
I imagined it could be that, but I didn’t thought that the use of cat skin was that widespread. So no dots and pores means dog skin. I start to understand.
Thanks for the answer! /o/
It just gets weirder the further you go.
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Just to clarify, dog skin doesn’t have dots, but still has pores. 
In fact, “daki” ダキ is a part of the dog skin which is very porous. When makers skin a shamisen, they rotate the skin so the porous “daki” section is where the thick string would be, as the porous area imparts a more complex tone. . . apparently.
Skin without pores nor nipples is plastic skin.
Actually guys, Nagauta shamisen skinned with dog, does indeed have nipples (some black, some a golden color… kind of a gross description, I know), but only ever on the front side. The back skin of nagauta shamisen uses a different section of the hide, and therefore does not have the nipples.
Joe
Hmmm… That’s very interesting. May I ask where you heard that from?
I was told that when dog skin is used on nagauta/jiuta shamisen, artificial nipple marks (tsukeji) are added to make it look like cat skin. As we know, high quality nagauta shamisen use cat skin, so adding the artificial marks to the dog skin gives the illusion that it’s a high quality cat skin. In the case of gidayu and tsugaru shamisen, no marks are added because dog is specifically used on even the best instruments, thus no need for the “falsehood” ;-).
That’s what I was told. Assuming they used the belly of a dog, there would be no reason to have tsukeji. But who knows.
Hi Kyle,
I know next to nothing about Tsugaru, and always wondered why they use the back part of the dog. I later found out that this is because the back is one of the thickest areas of skin, and of course fits the requirements for the genre.
Nagauta is the opposite, requiring the thinnest skin to make a desirable tone. The stomach area on both cat and dog is the naturally thinnest area of skin on those animals. I was told that black tsukeji marks were added only to accentuate the nipples to make them more visible from an audiences perspective. My shamisen does not have tsukeji, and because of this, they are a faint golden color. This is definitely interesting!
PS: Out of curiosity, how many shamisen and accessories are you planning on selling outside of the Tsugaru genre?
(Im also sure that the black tsukeji were added to resemble cat skin as well! Just for pride… Kind of like zoge itomaki!)
I know next to nothing about Tsugaru, and always wondered why they use the back part of the dog. I later found out that this is because the back is one of the thickest areas of skin, and of course fits the requirements for the genre.
Yeah. Two years ago, I wanted to try putting cat skin on a tsugaru shamisen, but I didn’t fully appreciate how thick it needed to be. I had thought that the thinner the skin, the better the sound would be. But it doesn’t make it better, just different. It seemed thinner skin had a more delicate tone.
. I was told that black tsukeji marks were added only to accentuate the nipples to make them more visible from an audiences perspective.
Ahhhhh… I see! Very interesting. I didn’t know that.
PS: Out of curiosity, how many shamisen and accessories are you planning on selling outside of the Tsugaru genre?
Well, after we get all the shamisen products ready and available, I think we would really be able to sell all the hougaku instruments. Shakuhachi, Koto, Taiko, Kokyu , you name it.
I just found out we killed a cat for my chamisen … it makes me sad … we could not use the skin of another animal, like an animal that eats after, pork, for example? well, if it is a cat’s skin, it is a cat’s skin … how can you cure this skin to make it last longer?
je viens de découvrir qu’on a tué un chat pour mon chamisen… ça me rend bien triste… on ne pourrait pas utiliser la peau d’un autre animal, comme un animal qu’on mange après, du porc par exemple ? well, si c’est une peau de chat, c’est une peau de chat … comment peut on soigner cette peau pour que ça dure plus longtemps ?
No way to cure it, shamisen use rawhide. If it makes you feel any better, the dog skins used on tsugaru shamisen come from places where dog is eaten. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone was eating the cats.
I would not be surprised to know that people eat the cat … but each country, its traditions and customs. Ireland, for example, do not eat rabbit or horse, in France we eat. I met a Chinese who had eaten the dog in his country. in other countries they eat snake … yuck! this is my French side who think it is not very natural to eat dog or cat …
It’s funny what you say about in Ireland they don’t eat rabbit because in the UK we do, not as often as we used to and I’ve never had it but my dad still craves it and you can buy skinned, gutted and decapitated rabbits in meat markets and independent butchers but not supermarkets.
I wouldn’t use it since I once had a pet rabbit stolen and my dad joked that somebody had probably skinned it and put it in a stew, but I wonder how rabbit skin would sound on a nagauta considering how thin it is and readily available if you know where to ask.
I’m sure those market stalls have some spare since rabbit skin is usually removed in almost one piece and the animal is gutted via the belly so the back hides (if the shots are clean and in the head) should make good replacements for those that don’t want to use cat or dog.
on m’avait dit que les irlandais ne mangeaient pas de lapin ni de cheval mais c’est peut etre faux. en France nous mangeons des grenouilles et des escargots, c’est vrai !
mais pourquoi la peau de chat ou de chien ? peut etre parce que c’est une peau très fine, …pauvre Anudist ! ah ah !
I was told that the Irish do not eat rabbit or horse but it may be false. in France we eat frogs and snails, it’s true!
but why a cat or dog skin ? may be because it is a very thin skin, …poor Anudist! ah ah!
Yep ^^;; they are nippes… my shamisens nipples are perked up and I have 13 on my shamisen in total. They are supposed to be good luck on a shamisen.
I just got my shami today. Reckon the old and bust skin was cat considering how closely spaced the 4 nipples on the front side were. Seriously high quality instrument considering the possible age and how cheaply I got it on ebay. I’ll post up pics in a new thread later but yeah… Really weird seeing the nipples on it.