A Japanese stringed musical instrument with a pear-shaped body and a short neck, played with a plectrum and used in traditional music and storytelling.
From Japanese 'biwa' (琵琶), a Sino-Japanese term that originated in China as 'pipa.' The instrument and its name traveled along the Silk Road, arriving in Japan around the 7th century.
The biwa was central to Japanese blind storytellers called 'biwa hōshi' who performed epic tales—in a society where books were rare, this musician-priest preserved entire histories through memory and music, making the biwa the keeper of Japanese culture.
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