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Description
Two women and a girl prepare musical instruments for a concert. The woman at center holds a lute or biwa, that is ornamented with a plectrum guard featuring a deer under a full moon. The biwa was popular as an accompanying instrument to songs and recitations of historical narratives, such as the "Tales of the Heike, Heike monogatari," but also was used in musical ensembles. This is probably a gaku biwa that was used to play imperial court music or gagaku. The woman on the right is warming the bowl of a sho, a kind of 17 reed panpipe often used in gagaku. She wears a kimono with designs of ribbons and drum heads. The formality of the upcoming concert is further indicated by the folding screen or byobu which is decorated with a picture of an enormous drum or da-daiko that is decorated with 2 dragons rising amid clouds and flames. Another picture in this series shows a zither or koto player applying picks to her fingers, again in preparation for a performance, although probably more informal than a gagaku concert.
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