#nigenkin

'The Nigenkin is a fairly recent instrument adapted from the Yakumo-goto, a two-string zither used exclusively in Shinto shrines. In the early Meiji Period (1868-1912), Tosha Rosen, a Yakumo-goto player, started to use the instrument to perform the secular popular music of the time (hauta and zokkyoku), and as a result was asked to sever his association with the Shinto Shrine and was forbidden to play the Yakumo-goto. He therefore created the Azuma Nigenkin, with only subtle differences to its predecessor, notably an open back and less ornamentation.'….."