But extensively as the _koto_ is practised by school-girls and ladies of position, the national musical instrument is the _samisen_, a Japanese variant of the old European rebec which was introduced into the country by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. In the old days it was considered vulgar to play the _samisen_, which consequently lay long in obloquy and was only to be found among the merchant and lower classes. But now, though the prejudice against it is still strong among old-fashioned people, it is in greater favour than the _koto_. It is played everywhere, at home, in story-tellers’ halls and theatres, and at every tea-house party. In its common form the _samisen_ has a belly, four inches thick and covered with skin, which has convex sides, seven and nearly eight inches respectively, and has attached to it a neck twenty-five inches long with a tail-piece of six inches. There are three pegs in the tail-piece for the three strings of the instrument, which are carried over the neck and tied at the further end of the belly where a small movable bridge keeps them from touching the face of the belly. The belly rests side-wise on the right knee of the player, whose right hand strikes the strings with an ivory plectrum, while the fingers of the left hand support the neck and stop the strings. The top-string is the thickest and has the lowest notes, while the third string is the finest and has the highest notes. The _samisen_ just described is known as the slender-necked _samisen_; the other kind, which is of larger dimensions, with thicker strings and is played with a heavier plectrum, is only used in singing _gidayu_, or ballad-dramas. On the scale of the _samisen_ there is still a great diversity of opinion, musical authorities being unable to agree as to the exact nature of the notes it emits. Its scale is certainly different to that of any European instrument; but, roughly-speaking, its range is about three octaves, the notes of which are put at thirty-six, comprising what would in European music be sharps and flats. The ranges of the two kinds of _samisen_ naturally differ, the smaller giving higher notes than the other. [Illustration: THE _SAMISEN_.]