So I’ve only seen a sao as one solid piece or three, but sao on this shamisen looks to be only 2 pieces…is that even possible? Is it authentic?
I don’t know but since it is a nagauta it is a bit smaller so the person making it maybe felt dividing it in half was enough? I think if it is a good instrument it doesn’t matter if it one piece, two or three.
However the gap looks pretty big - you should ask the person about it. Perhaps the neck has simply gone out a bit and can be pushed back together.
Thank you for your reply. I asked the seller about the gap. They said that it was was fitted loosely for the photo and does fit tighter. They also confirmed that it does put apart into three pieces. I can’t even see a second seam in any of the photos. So hopefully that gap can be pushed together as nicely as the other joint.
I’m sorry, Andrea, did I snatch it from you? 
I bought this one. It’s a BEAUTIFUL shamisen, missing only the kamigoma.
Wow, I hadn’t noticed until I saw this post that it does indeed only break down into two pieces. The seller was referring to the fact the that the TENJIN is the third piece - which normally would not be detached for travel. As a matter of fact, I was going get this thing repaired, and the tenjin and kamigoma reattached and replaced.
I was actually only interested in this auction for the shamibako and the … “butt-bench”, and the strings, of which there are MANY.
But it also included a beautiful neo and bachi, and I’m 80% certain that the itomaki are ivory.
Whoever had this thing played the heck out of it! It is well-worn, but loved.
Here it is next to my other nagauta.
Why do you suppose the sao only breaks down into two pieces?
Here is the writing from the inside … can anyone tell the provenance from what it says here (I’m just barely learning hiragana, so no way I can read this :P) ?
Ach, friggin’ seal characters. Those are hard to understand even for educated Japanese people. I can make out a few, but not enough to make sense of the whole thing.
Pieces I can get: Sangen (aka, shamisen); instrument; purchase; Tokyo, Japan; store.
Yeah, sorry, I’m not much help.
Better than me, thanks Jamie! 
I think this thing came over to the states a loooong time ago, though. It came to me from Madera, CA, which is about 2 1/2 hours North of me.
I’d sure like to contact the seller and ask him where he got it from, but I don’t want him to think I’m a nutcase, lol!
It’s just interesting - a two-piece sao - does anyone know of any makers who do (or did) two-piece saos?