Shamisen

A Tokyo geisha with her shamisen, in a hand-colored photograph from around 1870. As its name says, it has three strings, and they run down a long, slim neck with no frets to a squarish, drum-like body covered in skin, much like a banjo. Instead of fingers, the player strikes with a broad plectrum called a bachi, whose size depends on the type of shamisen and the music, and knocking it against the skin gives every note a dry, percussive snap.