Ladies and Gents,
Check it out!
http://bachido.com/products/nitta-about
They are all a very elegant accent to any shamisen. Very well done Masahiro. Makes me even more anxious to get my Tsugaru shamisen. =)
I get the feeling people want doukakes that are beautiful more than cool. I’m not much into having a flower pattern on my shamisen. I think they look really good if that’s what you want but unfortunately it is not my style. So in summary, nice doukakes but not for me 
The price may seem high, but take it from me who’s struggled with making my own, the price is worth the effort. That you get a nice finish on it is just another thing that you probably won’t achieve on your own.
I’m a fan of cool doukake. 
it may be because I’m a dude, but I would like a nice, long dragon along my doukake.
Of his current doukake selection, I’m really attracted to the #12 doukake. I may get it sometime soon, assuming it will fit on my homemade shamisen. 
(it’s a bit more curved than normal shamisen)
If you have any ideas (or designs) for a doukake, let me know. Masahiro might be able to have it made. I suggested the idea to him of a naga fukuro with a dragon along the cloth. Maybe corny, but it’s a start.
Well hell yes! Many different types of dragons and kanji’s and samurai! Yes… A bit corny but awesome
And yes #12 is very nice (looks.like hmm… Bloodwood) and i like #8 but i wish the dragon was red or orange
I like sinister style of ninja and orange . . . anyway somewhat like Karl I find the style of most of them slightly beside what I usually would go for but they are definitely so beautiful that I would nevertheless consider them I would need a shamisen first though . . . or like spending some money on a decorative doukake to have around for indoor decoration before saving enough to get a shamisen with those great designs I should seriously think about that
This is awesome Kyle ! Masahiro has always been my favorite Tsugaru shamisen player. My suggestion is that you continue to add these bio style pages onto this site. Of course you would have to get permission first from everyone but say for example Asano Sho .or even a Takahashi Chikuzan bio page. Kinoshita Shinichi would also be a good one and would be easy to contact through katoh San.
Maybe even good old Hanawa Chie sama.
But then maybe Masahiro might not like that idea. He might be thinking kind of territorially about bachido… Hmmm, who know?
It just seems that it might be really awesome for this site to include some kind of gallery of shamisen players we know out there who might be willing to contribute a little info on themselves and maybe even give them the option of sending a video message to the bachido community…or at least a written message.
I don’t know, maybe … Maybe not?
Perhaps it’s not really needed on this site.
Or perhaps it’s something that will happen naturally someday
Once this website TAKES OVER THE WORLD!!!
Hahaha,
Woa how about that…
??
I just had a vision of a monthly printed bachido magazine on news stands around the world, next to guitar player and other well known monthly publications.
Wow.
Good job Kyle !
Sound like a good idea to me Kevin! ( and yes the magazines… It would be awesome :D)
oh I just wondered besides the fact that a bachido magazine would surely be the best but anyway do you mean there are no shamisen magazines around at all next to guitar player on news stands not even in japan?
Kevin,
Oh snap!! I completely forgot about that!! When we were first creating content for the site, I had thought about having bio pages, but completely forgot about it. :-S (the way Kyle rolls)
I’m sure we wouldn’t need permission to make bio pages… however, what would be awesome is a “biographical interview.” That would take contact and permission. But being that Bachido is getting bigger by the day, that isn’t too outlandish an idea.
Oh no, I’m sure Masahiro would be cool with it.
Here’s one thought: Where do you think it should go? As you may or may not know, there are several “shamisen education” pages on the sidebar in the Overview tab. Shamisen tunings, audio for shamisen pieces, and more are listed there. Very beneficial stuff for the beginning shamisen player… but I fear they go unnoticed. This is where I’d think the biographies would go, but I wonder if they should all be put somewhere more prominent.
So, my question to everyone is, basically, do you know that all that stuff is there?
Heh, a shamisen magazine would be quite awesome. Unless we had a lot more contributors, the huge time/money investment for a worldwide magazine would be too high. However, when the shamisen gets as popular as guitar, that’s another story! A digital magazine would be sweet too. much less cost and can be read on our iBrains.
Bernhard,
I think the closest thing to a shamisen magainze is “The Hougaku Journal” in Japan. That covers Hougaku music (traditional Japanese music) of all kinds: interviews, new releases/projects/events, etc. I was interviewed for it a few years ago (thanks to Kevin and Masahiro), and I know Kevin has been interviewed a few times.
on the startpage I would maybe drop the whole sidebar navigation, use the sidebar for something else or drop it alltogether and make background and get started contents all available under Lerning Center and add Artists or something to the top navigation for bios and the like . . .
anyway though as it is I think I found everything just fine . . .
as for magazines I can live without one and am enjoying a growing bachido site, also maybe the other direction would be worth thinking about like getting one or the other article from hougaku journal or other media or like pushing stuff to guitar or music magazines so they may publish an article on shamisen . . .
2 cents and thanks for the info I guess I’ll not be able to read the hougaku journal too bad I have a japanese crash course book though as in having it on the shelf so far
Whenever I visit a big bookstore I usually look for something related to Tsugaru shamisen in vain. (even in Japan (>_
Yeah,
I think there are some business possibilities here.
For now it seems this site is on track. Taking over the word one step at a time. At some point I think Kyle should look into getting some major press for bachido. That could lead to funding which may inevitably lead to a … Staff.
Oh god. Things just might get reeeally complicated very soon.
I’ll be sending you my resume Kyle.
Well, personally I’d rather watch something than read it, so if there is any media we would make almost-commercial quality, let’s start by getting the blogcast like a video magazine.
Not to mention, video is a lot more fun to edit/proofread than a whole magazine.
Can I be the president of the UK branch?
Absolutely! You’ve been on TV, so you’ve got some celebrity status as well!
And thank you so much for letting me know about Hougaku Journal.I think I am going to visit libraries and nearby bookstore to find that magazine or order back number!
Kyoko-san, you can order the magazine and back issues/back numbers on their website - www.hogaku.com. Hogaku Journal also has an amazing collection of recordings of all hougaku instruments (and some Western ones) playing all styles of music (Japanese and other) at their online store, http://hj-how.com.
FYI, for anyone who might want to order CDs, etc. from Hogaku Journal, they can communicate in English and they will ship outside of Japan. (I have ordered a number of CDs from them several times before and had no problems at all.)
And to B H and others re: the Japanese language issue: there are a number of online tools to translate Japanese these days, whether it’s simple sentences or a whole website. (One is Google’s http://translate.google.com. Google Chrome browser will also translate automatically for you when you land on a foreign language web page - not perfectly, mind you, but it does give some access to the info, at least…)
Thank you so much for a lot of useful information, Linda san. I think I would like to try those sites. (^_^)