biwa-bozu

Updated: May 8, 2025

Sharing the vogue of the biwa-bozu, but differing from it in the nature of the story recited as well as in that of the instrument employed, was the joruri, which derived its name from the fact that it was originally founded on the tragedy of Yoshitsune's favourite mistress, Joruri. In this the performer was generally a woman, and the instrument on which she accompanied herself was the samisen.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era