That's a fantastic question! My guess is the mochiko labeled "gluten free" would be just fine, because as you said, it's the starch that does the sticking.

@@TsugaruShamisen Sweet, thank you Kyle! I love your channel and content, very well researched and thoroughly explained. I may well have some more questions in the near future as I'm working on a research essay involving the effects of globalization in music and culture and how it reflects in fusion acts like God of Shamisen as the Tsugaru style seems to facilitate such fusions. Thanks again!

@@jaysalazar-guitarist5850 Thank you! I'm glad you find it useful. :) That's awesome you're including shamisen in your research essay! Feel free to contact me at kyle (at) bachido (dot) com. I can also put you in touch with Kevin, who I'm sure would be happy to answer questions related to God of Shamisen and more. :)

@@TsugaruShamisen Absolutely, I would love to get in contact with Kevin at some point for the possibility of a interview. I will definitely send you an email. Thank you so much!

It's called Hokkai Bon Uta. :)

@@TsugaruShamisen thank you Kyle. I was thinking it was Ajigasawa Jinku or Somabon-uta. Lol

Good question! Yes it is. 😅Unfortunately, I had a big misunderstanding with my partner Nitta san, and it turns out the price couldn't get as low as the shamibuddy was. However, in the next year we're hoping to list more used shamisen (in good condition) which will hopefully bring down the cost. Regarding how it compares to the shamibuddy, it's a bit of a hard thing to compare. This is a "real deal" shamisen, and so it sounds, well, like it's peers. :) Shamibuddy also does sound like a shamisen of course, but it's not 100% identical as the shape and material of the body is a bit different, which affects the tone. (Not in a bad way, just different)

Good question! Actually, this shamisen was also made with Purpleheart wood, so overall the color was more sakura-colored. :) I'm glad you enjoyed it! I hope you decide to start your shamisen journey as well! ☺

Okay now that I think about it, when you talking about hooking the shamisen onto your ribs, is this to prevent rotation in the way I’m describing? I’ve always had an issue with stabilizing it with my ribs, but I just tried placing the corner of the drum head on the right side of my ribs to prevent it from falling, but not sure if this is correct.

@@a0zuniverse I'm glad that someone's still watching these videos! 😀Yes, this is a very common issue, and I only somewhat addressed the solution here. Please check out this video which my student made a few years ago. I think he addresses the method a bit more clearly. :) - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aspljctqvLybc30.html

@@TsugaruShamisen Thanks for the reply! That Body Mechanics series is great and I actually come back to those videos frequently! Yet I still seem to be unable to keep the shamisen from falling over without supporting it with my left hand or putting a lot of pressure through my right forearm. Any position where I'm able to relax my right shoulder has the shamisen slip out, unfortunately. Should the forearm, ribs, or thigh be predominantly responsible for the shamisen not slipping?

@@a0zuniverse Oh interesting! Let's see... In that case, my guess is the corner of the dou might need to shift further to the outside of your leg. By putting more of the dou on the side, that can help rebalance the weight. In my opinion, all three are required (forearm, ribs, and thigh), but where the dou is on the leg/thigh makes the most difference to how affective the "triangle" of support (forearm, ribs, and thigh) is.

Technique does make a big difference, but it is a very nice sounding shamisen as well, I really like the tone. :) Ah, thank you for the note on appalatcha pronunciation! I hear my friends pronounce it that way, but somehow I always turn my a's into ey's. 😆

The twang adds that little bit of extra flavor!

Thank you, Pippy! I love the look of them too. :) That's a very good question. In my opinion, full bamboo tend to be a bit warmer than bone tipped koma. But they all sound nice. :)

With just 75 easy payments is $9.95!

Oh thank you!! Haha, I should know more about those. Thanks for educating me! ☺

@@TsugaruShamisen No problem, you're definitely educating me more than I'm educating you lol let me know if you have more of those, I'd gladly take one from you!

@@AbelVegas Haha, it's a worthy trade! :-) Unfortunately I don't have any more of them, but feel free to contact Nitta san here as he probably has more! :-) - ezofuji-japan.com/pages/contact

@@TsugaruShamisen Thank you so much, that I'll do!

Yeah, it was in there 😅

You did it!!!

Ah yes, that is most likely due to the string either touching the ridge (shown in this video) too much, or not touching it at all. Check out this video. (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bsyahJhh2di-XaM.html) It's not public yet, but shows how to make the sawari effect work. :) Good luck and please let me know how it goes!

Thank you! That could be possible. :-) Let me know if there are any colors you're interested in and I'll ask Nitta san if we can make it happen!

​@@TsugaruShamisen i think personally i'd really like one in black myself! they're very nice looking cases

@@PippyM_ Oh that would be nice! I'll tell Nitta san now! :-) Great suggestion!

Hi Sherium! Ah, normally you'd have to cut the templates out of the book to transfer onto the wood, but feel free to send me an email at Kyle (at) Bachido (dot) Com and I'd be happy to send you a pdf of the templates so you can print those out to keep the book intact. :) I actually don't have a template of the itomaki, because the way it's cut, it's more accurate to use the measurement reference I list in the book rather than a template to trace. Feel free to email me any questions you have!

@@TsugaruShamisen Kyle, can you send me your email address? On the website in the "contacts" section it gives an error

@Sherium_ Oh! Could you let me know what error it is? I tested it out now and it seems to work on my end. :-S

@@TsugaruShamisen at the very bottom of the page there are contacts, I click on the emoji of the letter and I am dragged to a page with a 404 error

@@Sherium_ Aaah, I see! Sorry about that, I have to fix it somehow. If you look above those emojis, you'll see a link that says "Contact Us". That link will work. :) (It's above the links to the Discord and Facebook pages)

Unfortunately not! I didn't know about the song until you mentioned it now. Just found tenten's version now! :)

​@@TsugaruShamisen Tenten's version is basically as simple as it gets, you can do a lot with the tune. I like 勝太郎's version from 1934, it's pretty fun. (Sadly the versions on KZfaq are pretty low quality.) I also like Ichimaru's Dodoitsu Shamisen (都々逸三味線) for its lyrics. "The bachi of regrets... the flowing tears of honchoushi... my body is thinner than a shami no ito..."

Oh interesting! I didn't know about that. Do you have a link to that article? I'd love to read about it. :)

@@TsugaruShamisen It seems KZfaq doesn't like the links I'm pasting, but it's the first result if you google "津軽三味線の「たて」とは?".

@@TsugaruShamisen Sorry, apparently my first comment never went through. The article is the first search result for "津軽三味線の「たて」とは？".

Great question! For storage with synthetic skin, I doubt you'd even need a cloth if it's in a case. Just the case should be enough, but nothing wrong with having a cloth as well! :)

Hello! Currently, sheets of synthetic skin is not available publicly, but the reskinning-with-synthetic-skin service is available - bachido.com/store/skin-replacement-hibiki/

Oh, acrylic itomaki can be sanded down it you need to adjust the fitting! :) Just use water when sanding so the acrylic dust doesn't clog the sandpaper. Ah, super glue is the standard way to glue the zagane back in the holes. Just be sure to press it all the way in quickly because the glue hardens fast!

@@TsugaruShamisenThank you! I will give it a try :)

@@TsugaruShamisenThank you so much for this video! I did the glueing earlier this week and the sanding down today and it worked so well thanks to you! Now I a facing one last problem: is there any way to fix a string (the thinnest one in my case) to the itomaki when you don‘t have the means of drilling a hole? I have been trying for over an hour to tie any kind of knot and it‘s no use 😢 Any ideas?

@@Mitula_elven_warrior Yay! I'm glad it's working!! :-D Aaaaah, unfortunately I'm not sure it's possible without a hole. I was faced with that problem ten years ago in Japan (goodness, how time flies). The president of Tokyo Wagakki gave me a new set of fancy itomaki to use at the shamisen tournament, but they weren't fitted nor had the holes. As I was taking a ferry to Aomori (where the taikai was), I bought a file at the nearby 100yen shop and hand fitted the itomaki to my tenjin. So they fit tight, but still no holes. I then tried using some duct tape to secure the end of the string to the peg, and it worked for a very short time. But partway through the tournament, the tape lost adhesion and the string slipped. 😅 Fortunately, I was playing in the group division with Team Bachido, so I could hide among the sounds of the other players. :-P Anyway, that's a long winded story to say that I think a hole is necessary. :-( Perhaps there's a nearby carpenter or luthier who could drill the hole for you?

@@TsugaruShamisen Such a cool story, so many treasured memories you must have from then! I made it work: I left more string than I normally would, wound it around the itomaki once and held the end to the side of the head where the itomaki was stuck in. When I then turned the itomaki, I made sure the string I held to the side was tucked under the string that wound around and was tightened. Just as I normally would have done but the hole would hold the string better. It was then held in place by itself when wound around many times and fully tightened and tuned to C. Kept slipping a bit while playing but that could be due to my first attempt at sanding down and fitting an itomaki. The string did not loosen from what I can tell. :)) kinda proud

Oops! Please send me an email at kyle (at) bachido (dot) com and I will try sending you a password reset email. :)