samisenn.

1616 R. Cocks Diary 9 Oct. (1883) I. 188 The tuerto that plaid on the shamshin.

1822 F. Shoberl tr. I. Titsingh Illustr. Japan 94 Several young females came to bear them company, playing on the samsi, and dancing.

1840 Chinese Repository 9 630 The samishen is a three-stringed guitar, and is usually played with a plectrum.

1864 C. Engel Music Most Anc. Nations 55 The san heen of China, and the samsien of Japan. The two instruments are almost identical.

1871 A. B. Mitford Tales Old Japan I. 243 The shamisen, a sort of banjo.

1880 I. L. Bird Unbeaten Tracks Japan I. 134 Yuki plays the samisen, which may be regarded as the national female instrument.

1895 ‘C. Holland’ My Japanese Wife (ed. 11) 4 The music of guitars or samisens being played in the tea-houses.

1936 K. Sunaga Japanese Music i. 19 The instrument employed as the accompaniment for the songs of geisha girls..was the samisen... It might be described as a three-stringed, rectangular banjo.

1955 E. Pound Classic Anthol. ii. 115 And words soft as the shamisan Distinguish the thick-faced man.

1964 I. Fleming You only live Twice i. 18 [Bond was] far from being..bewitched by the inscrutable discords issuing from the catskin-covered box of the three-stringed samisen.

1970 J. W. Hall Japan x. 227 The music of the shamisen.

1972 Times 18 Sept. 5/4 Guests knelt on tatami and used chopsticks to eat while geisha girls played the samisen.