What is the tuning on Kodo?
Or rather, the note for ichi no ito.
ni agari as for the tab
Hey Anthony,
The version from Yoshida Brothers II is in C# and the Hishou version is in C. And, as B H pointed out, both are tuned niagari.
Anthony, B H and Denver,
Having met Kenichi Yoshida several years in a row at the Shamisen tournaments (and discussing things like this with him) I can tell you this … Those guys would most likely just shake their heads at you if you asked them what key Kodo is suppose to be in. For tunes like Kodo he told me that they just tune up to what feels right . They probably felt C one day and C# another day and they really don`t care either way. They tune to fixed pitches only when playing with their band but as a way to stay true to tradition, solo peices or duets like Kodo are usually just approximated.
This is one of those things that clearly separates the Japanese and western musical minds. In the west we naturally ask “What key?” With Japanese Shamisen the question has mostly been "What key feels right for todays performance?" And even then they didnt know C from D from Ab.
This is the Historical roots.
Once the 20th century and “Modern times” kicked in, Shamisen players suddenly were obligated to solidify and standardize things like this. Of course it goes without saying that we live in a much different world today and most young people picking up Shamisen just automatically assume that it is like any other instrument in terms of tuning and pitch.
But it toally isnt and I think as Shamisen players its good to know and even help preserve it`s roots by being aware of little details like this.
I have personally always thought it was really cool when I would be jamming
with someone and they ask me “What key is that thing in?” and I could answer by saying in all honesty “Well… What key do you WANT it to be in?”
yeah that is cool 
damn it I hope kyle’s book is in the mail tomorrow