There are many types of biwa namely Gogenbiwa Instrument, Gakubiwa Instrument, Heike biwa (a biwa with four strings and five frets used to play Heike Monogatari), moso-biwa, To biwa, Satsuma biwa (Satsuma lute), or Chikuzen biwa (Chikuzen lute).
五弦琵琶、楽琵琶、平家琵琶、盲僧琵琶、唐琵琶、薩摩琵琶、筑前琵琶などの種類がある。