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Kawase Satoko

川瀬 里子

Kawase Satoko
9/3/1873 - 8/15/1957

Shamisen

A blind shamisen player and vocalist, Kawase Satoko was the wife of Kawase Junsuke I, founder of the Chikuyu-sha shakuhachi school in Tokyo. She was responsible for introducing the Kyushu-kei style of Jiuta shamisen to Tokyo and was extremely influential in the development of traditional shamisen music in the early 20th century. Recordings of her are exceedingly rare, as she was strongly opposed to the recording process. She lost her eyesight at the age of 4 and studied under Kyushu-based Hase Yuki at the age of 6.

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