Kinshi Tsuruta

Kinshi Tsuruta (鶴田 錦史, Tsuruta Kinshi; August 8, 1911--April 4, 1995) was a Japanese musician.

Kinshi TSURUTA
Born	(1911-08-15)August 15, 1911 Hokkaido
Died	April 4, 1995(1995-04-04) (aged 83)
Other names	鶴田 錦史、鶴田　菊枝(Kikue TSURUTA)
Occupation	Biwa player

As a Biwa player

Tsuruta specialized in the ancient pear-shaped plucked lute called the biwa,^[1] and also sang. She developed her own form of the Satsuma biwa,^[2] which is sometimes referred to as Tsuruta biwa. This biwa differs from the traditional Satsuma biwa in the number of frets, construction of the head, and occasionally a doubled 4th string. The additional frets allows a wider range of notes to be played which makes it possible to perform modern and western compositions.

Tsuruta achieved international attention for her New York City premiere performance, in November 1967, of Tōru Takemitsu's November Steps with the New York Philharmonic, under the direction of Seiji Ozawa (with shakuhachi player Katsuya Yokoyama).^[3]

She has many well known students, such as Yukio Tanaka, Yoshiko Sakata, and Junko Ueda.

See also

• Biwa

Links

• Schwebeablaut (Kinshi Tsuruta – Biwa, the World of Tsuruta Kinshi (1995))