The biwa (琵琶) is a kind of lute, with a short neck and frets. Jetavana Vihara, for Biwa and Voice The biwa (琵琶) is a kind of lute, with a short neck and frets.   It is usually used in narrative storytelling. The origin of the biwa is the Chinese pipa. It arrived in Japan well…

6 minutes:  Tsuru no Sugomori (Nesting of Cranes) is performed by Kohachiro MIYATA on the shakuhachi bamboo flute.  This programmatic piece describes the life of the crane, a bird with great symbolic cultural significance in Japan, including building a nest, laying and hatching an egg and raising a baby crane until it flies away from…