Just realised after having my shamisen for about a year now possibly longer, there has always been a little cut in the side of my shamisen… i only just thought of what it could be from. I think it was a sword maybe a blunt one but still a sword. The width is about the same and how deep it wouldave gone in is correct. Koki wood is hard a sword wouldnt go in too deep at all.
Very very small mark ill post a pic in a sec
ummm weird, just tried to take a picture but now the marks gone entirely I cant even find any marks with my fingernails. It looks brand new…
Which side of shamisen strings are the cut marks? If on the left of the strings that you see easily while playing, they probably are the TSUBO marks which are the positions your fingers should press on the string when you play.
the side close to my face, I still havent found that mark again since I made the post. It’s completely vanished or healed. The cut was on the sao itself on the very edge of playable area.
Still they seem like to be the TSUBO positions which show where your left fingers go.
Could it have been that your SAO is MITSU-ORI and the pieces were sliding apart….?
Could it have been that your SAO is MITSU-ORI and the pieces were sliding apart….?
very true it is mitsu-ori, and Yea I suppose thats possible 
I don’t remember the cut being near the parts where they slide apart.