Word: samisens
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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What the ukulele is to Hawaii, the bagpipes to Scotland, the samisen is to Japan. A three-stringed, long-necked banjo with enormous decorative tuning pegs and a square wooden drum covered with white dogskin parchment, it makes a noise something like a ukulele-bagpipe merger. No Geisha girl dares hold up her elaborately coiffed head unless she is adept on the samisen. More samisens are made and sold than any other musical instrument in Japan, yet the samisen industry has felt the World Depression...