The biwa is a traditional Japanese fretted lute used for both accompaniment and orchestral performance. This biwa belonged to Toku Shimomura who was a survivor of the Minidoka concentration camp in Idaho. It was on this day in 1942 that President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 that laid the groundwork for the internment of 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast in concentration camps.
Biwa, string instrument, Toku Shimomura's
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- Credit Line
- Gift of Roger Shimomura
- Physical Description
- wood (overall material)
- plastic (fringel material)
- thread (top material)
- wood (top material)
- red (packaging color)
- Measurements
- overall: 8 1/2 in x 9 1/2 in x 1 1/2 in; 21.59 cm x 24.13 cm x 3.81 cm
- overall: 32 in x 11 in x 3 in; 81.28 cm x 27.94 cm x 7.62 cm
- Object Name
- instrument
- biwa and plectum
- biwa
