This is a beautiful second-hand Tsugaru Shamisen with prominent tochi figuring on the sao and genuine vintage solid zouge itomaki fitted to this tenjin. The sao is highly polished with an oil-finish, and overall this instrument is very high quality.  This shamisen is practically in brand new condition, but the price has been lowered due to the following points.

  1. The lightest amount of wear on the sao topside. No actual kanberi wear, but just the faint indentations from wound strings rubbing against the highly polished surface. The previous owner either had a very light touch, or almost never played it.
  2. There are a few scratch-like dents on the base of the saruo (shown in picture gallery). I’m not sure how it was caused, but seems like something metallic may have been accidentally pressed against the wood.
  3. A few light scuffs on the dou.
  4. This shamisen was polished with an excessive amount of migako (polishing powder). Migako is an essential material for traditionally polishing shamisen to a beautiful shine, but if too much is applied, the pores of the wood become filled with the white powder. The white-filled pores are noticeable in both the tenjin and dou.
  • Wood: Tochi Kouki

  • Skin: Kanade (Can be replaced with Hibiki: Sonic)

  • Sao: Futozao
  • Dou: Tsugaru Size 5

  • Hardware: Genuine Vintage Zouge Itomaki, Azuma Sawari

  • Condition: Second-hand