Shamisen

Have you ever wondered what the three stringed instrument often seen in pictures of Japanese women is called? It is a shamisen,also called sangen,meaning three strings. They are played with a plectrum which to me looked somewhat like an icescraper. The shamisen is similar in length to a guitar,but its neck is slimmer and without frets. Its drum like rounded body is covered with skin in the manner of a banjo and amplifies the sound of the strings. The skin is usually from a dog or cat,but in the past a special type of paper was used and recently plastics are being tried. On the skin of some of the best shamisen,the position of the cat's nipples can be seen. I listened to some shamisen playing and to me it sounded somewhere between a banjo and a sitar.