Therefore, four types of music, jiuta, so-kyoku, kokyu-gaku, and shakuhachi-gaku, are collectively called 'sankyoku', and the word 'sankyoku' has been used to distinguish itself from other traditional Japanese music such as nagauta (long epic song with shamisen accompaniment), gidayu-bushi (musical narrative with shamisen accompaniment), kiyomoto-bushi (musical narrative with shamisen accompaniment), biwa-gaku (biwa music), and nogaku (the art of Noh).
そこで、これら地歌、箏曲、胡弓楽、尺八楽の四種の音楽を総称して「三曲」と呼び、他の邦楽種目、例えば長唄や義太夫節、清元、琵琶楽、能楽などと区別するために使われる。