This may be covered in the book Shamisen of Japan that I am soon to receive in the mail but …
My question. Is it necessary to use the brass lining for peg holes?
Would it be functionally fine to simply leave it as bare wood, fitting the itomaki in the same way as would be done for a cello?
Thanks!
Cath
Welcome to Bachido Catherine! As far as the brass fittings I think they are more for decoration and may actually cause the itomaki to slip more since they are smooth metal. It’s more of a matter of personal taste.
Catherine! Glad you made it to the Bachido Forum! Welcome, welcome! 
Yeah, just like Cody said. Actually Sanshin don’t have zagane either.
However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t cool! 
And as of today, they are available in the Bachido Store! http://bachido.com/products/hardware-parts
And yes, they are pricey. 
Masahiro says the price can drop if enough people order them. (Supply/demand) Anywho, it’s available to the public, at least.
Catherine! Glad you made it to the Bachido Forum! Welcome, welcome!
Yeah, just like Cody said. Actually Sanshin don’t have zagane either.
However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t cool!
And yes, they are pricey.
YAY! Now we have zagane! Bachido is growing prominently!
Can nagauta zagane be used on Tsugaru-Jamisen?
They are very fancy!
Catherine,
A thing like zagane isn’t used in many instruments. It’s for fancy purposes (it’s actually cool,in my opinion) ,but as people said,it will make it slip.
Don’t worry. You won’t need to retune the shamisen everytime. It won’t be as tight as if it was bare wood.
The worse thing about bare wood is that it will wear with time.
Like Kyle said, sanshin got no zagane,and my sanshin,which is 50-60 years old,already started to wear,and the Urushi is coming out from the Itogura.
Now a message for everyone.
I have been trying to make some kind of paste,with simple materials,to make the Itomaki tight,maybe using some kind of resin,or powder.
Do you guys have any ideas?
Can nagauta zagane be used on Tsugaru-Jamisen?
Unfortunately not, because the holes of tsugaru itogura are larger than nagauta.
I have been trying to make some kind of paste,with simple materials,to make the Itomaki tight,maybe using some kind of resin,or powder.
I grind violin rosin into a powder and put a little bit in the holes. It makes the itomaki very tight. (And if you put too much powder in, it becomes too tight!)
Thanks greatly for all the replies! I’m so very impressed by this fine bachido community.
I know from my viola playing days that there is a substance that you can get to make pegs stick more. I’m not sure what’s in it but maybe a local violin shop might be able to let you know. Inexpensive to buy but I totally get it, making your own. There’s a local string instrument repair person here in Banff. I’ll ask him if he has a recipe he can pass on.
I’m glad to hear that the bachido store carries zagane. Now we can get matching zagane and azuma sawari! 
All slippage aside, I think everyone can agree that itomaki look a lot sexier with zagane.
I bought zagane in Japan when I was there. Recently I found similar looking and sized hardware (made from copper?) at a hardware store. Here is a picture of them for your evaluation:
I know from my viola playing days that there is a substance that you can get to make pegs stick more. I’m not sure what’s in it but maybe a local violin shop might be able to let you know.
Peg drops! I haven’t used it myself, but I’ve heard very good things.
Nick: Cool! If they have the same taper as the itomaki (or can shape the itomaki to the same taper as the pipe), I think it would work perfectly.
Luke: Ah right! I wonder what it’s made from, and if it’d work on metal/plastic. It might be worth trying.
FWIW, I intentionally didn’t include zagane on my two shamisens. First, many common stringed instruments don’t use/need them (e.g. violins, cellos, viols, lutes, early guitars,…). Second, they looked like a bother to make (at least so they looked good). Third, I couldn’t find a source for them (now remedied). Fourth, I decided that I liked the natural wood look (maybe a rationalization). Finally, I figured that if the tenjin wood wore down too much, I could always add zagane later.
No shame in that. As Papa always tells me, “Form follows function.” I mean, there’s rationals for every tradition/tool under the sun, but in this case, it’s hard to deny that there’s not much function other than looks. It fits in with the same paradigm/aesthetic as having the metal rindo or the kinbozo (metal sleeves inside mitsuori sao) What’s more, if it’s not fitted well, it can snap out of place when a tight itomaki is twisted in (as it did to me a few weeks ago).
Finally, I figured that if the tenjin wood wore down too much, I could always add zagane later.
That’s true! What’s more, if you ever decide to add zagane (and once you start playing, little aesthetic things don’t seem to matter as much as they did during construction) you’ll need to remove more wood to fit them in anyway (due to the thickness of the brass).
Kinbozo? So that’s what they’re called? That has been driving me nuts ever since I saw that shamisen making video on YouTube and wished I had installed them on my mitsutori lol
Whoa!! Way too long since I ve posted! I’m thinking of taking my zagane out. You could always use a lil wax-free (sidewalk) chalk to prevent slippage too, that’s what I use for my sitar pegs (all 22 of 'em!)
Get some wood dust of the same color and type of wood. Mix it with wood glue into kind of a thick paste. Smear it on the edges of the holes you want to make slightly smaller. let it dry. Re-ream or sand to the size you want. it will be quite hard like the wood…