The instrument is often expressed as "三弦" (which reads as "sangen") or "三絃" (which also reads as "sangen") in the community of "sankyoku" (the instrumental trio, i.e., shamisen, koto (the thirteen-string Japanese zither), and shakuhachi (the bamboo flute) or occasionally kokyu (the Chinese fiddle) instead of shakuhachi), and this is particularly true in the community of Jiuta (songs of the country accompanied by shamisen) and Sokyoku (the music of the koto).
三曲界、特に地歌・箏曲では、三弦または三絃という場合が多い。