What is "shigin"

Shigin is a performance of reciting a Japanese poem or a Chinese poem read in Japanese, each poem ( = shi) usually chanted ( = gin) by an individual or in a group. Reciting can be done loudly before a large audience, softly to a few friends, or quietly to the reciter himself or herself.

Each reciting is also termed gin. Any forms of Japanese and Chinese poetry are used for reciting.

Kanshi and classical Chinese poems are usually composed of four or more lines of Chinese characters, or kanji (漢字), each line having the same number of characters. Gin with four phrases, each seven characters long (the most common), are classified as . There is strictly only one standard melody, although many poems will be distinguished by minor variations from this theme.