It looks like a guiter, but the sound is completely different.
Shamisen is a traditional Japanese instrument that looks like a guiter with three strings.
There are two types of shamisen, normal shamisen and tsugaru-shamisen.
The shamisen he plays is tsugaru-shamisen, which is popular in Tohoku area located in the north of Japan.
Compared to a normal shamisen, tsugaru-shamisen has the thicker neck and it sounds more powerful, and somehow plaintive.
Here are some videos of shamisen performance.
The other day I had a chance to listen to shamisen performance.
When I hear the sound of tsugaru-shamisen, it reminds me of deep snow in Tohoku area and I don't know why, but I feel a little sad.
Anyway, no more words. Here are some videos of shamisen performance.
The shamisen performance by Koji HATA: