Talk:Shamisen

message: :The pronunciation is usually "shamsen" (never "sa")
Is this really the case? EDICT gives both しゃみせん and さみせん as readings. DopefishJustin (・∀・) 06:11, Apr 26, 2005 (UTC)
::You're absolutely right. I'm glad I wasn't logged in when I wrote that (?). "Sa" seems rare. Loads of hits on Google, but it's difficult to sort out the mess (sometimes Google returns pieces of adjacent words). The real hits might be intentional archaism; it seems not to be in current use. Some dictionaries refer "samisen" to "shamisen" or omit it entirely, as does Japanese WP. But "never" was wrong, and I apologize. Glad you caught it! Fg2 10:43, Apr 26, 2005 (UTC)
(The dictionary evidence notwithstanding, have either of you ever actually heard it pronounced as "sa"? --RJCraig 08:41, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: No, at least not that I can recall. Fg2 09:06, July 22, 2005 (UTC)
I believe it is sometimes heard in Kansai speech. It's also more common in older Western writings about the instrument (not that that necessarily matters, since Malm lists and early spelling as "shahisen" [sic] or something like that). STS 11:51, 27 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Pronunciation

message: No idea if this is in the right place & I'm not about to start butchering the article - "...Yoshida brothers developed..."??  This will be news to the entire Tsugaru tradition of playing which, AFAIK, is all they're doing.  They certainly made it popular in the mass market and added modern instruments to the mass media mix, but they didn't develop anything per se.  Northern Iwate ken, south eastern Aomori, it's the dominant folk style of of playing.  (Based purely on my experience living there & what the locals say and all :) )  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.50.109.185 (talk) 01:32, 19 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Accuracy

message: On the skin of some of the best shamisen, the position of the cat's nipples can be seen., I doubt it's the viewing of the nipples that makes them the best, describe the underbelly skin if you can source this claim. Sherurcij (talk) (Terrorist Wikiproject) 21:05, 17 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  Geisha shamisen = cat skin, tsugaru shamisen = dog skin. At least according to the three tsugaru shamisen masters who told me it over the last two days in Aomori. --49.98.10.170 (talk) 12:14, 11 February 2012 (UTC)
replies: text:  I'm quite sure I read that in Malm as well. It's true that cat skin is used in the most expensive instruments. I think the area concerned has the finest skin, which is why that is an important titbit. That pun was completely unintentional, please forgive it. STS 11:53, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

text:  But should we really be talking about nipples at all? I'm a male child working on a project about music in Japan. I looked up nipple on wikipedia and it freaked me out. 24.87.56.142 (talk) 22:03, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Deleting text

message: There is a picture in the "Variations in construction and playing style" heading that reads "A young Japanese boy demonstrating shamisen in Warszawa, Poland during the 5th Cross Culture Festival." That is NOT a shamisen, it is the Okinawan sanshin and this needs to be corrected. Thanks. KogeJoe (talk) 03:12, 9 October 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Misnomer 

message: I evaluated the article as C-class, though the text is really B-class. Here are some points that might improve the article:
* References: Gotta have 'em. At least one to a paragraph seems to be the general rule.
* Supporting Materials: Photos and images are all good, but the article could use an infobox. See Template:Infobox Instrument. Good luck. Boneyard90 (talk) 15:08, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: WP:Japan Assessment Commentary

message: The link in the last bullet of the Audio section in references is busted for me. I'm not sure where the contributor thought he/she was going with that so I didn't fix it.
Peter Wisner (talk) 04:31, 19 July 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bad Audio Link 

message: I tagged this article as confusing. The article's lead section is not very good, see WP:LEAD. The article contents are not very coherent, it is very easy to get confused reading such a mish-mash of thoughts. It is also poorly-referenced. One big problem is that the article never bothers to describe what kind of music a shamisen is used to play, except in very technical terms. JoshuSasori (talk) 23:32, 11 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Suggestions for article 

message: The article says things like "Heights used: 2.6 and 2.8 are the standard."
What units are these in? Millimetres? One online shop offers 7mm or 8mm koma, so that seems wrong. Is it a special Japanese unit?
DrHacky (talk) 06:55, 30 September 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Koma Heights