They were introduced to Japan around the Bunsei era in the Edo period along with gekkin and huqin and had been popular as Ming and Xing-era Chinese music (as popularized in Japan before the First Sino-Japanese war) until around the first year of the Meiji period.
江戸時代の文政頃、月琴や胡琴等と共に日本に伝来、明治初年頃まで明清楽として流行した。