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As he learns of a series of murders of biwa players, he makes the acquaintance of Inu-Oh, the now-grown child of a Noh performer with bizarre abnormalities including scaly skin, a third arm and an extremely elongated right arm.

Still, there are hints early on that this won’t be like other period epics: It focuses on biwa priests and Noh performers.

Together, they hit the road and refine their talents: Inu-oh becomes a performing sensation and Tomona a proto-rocker, complete with squealing biwa and admirers.

Stringed instruments such as the biwa are used sparingly to play a fixed harmony or chord that marks time rather than plays a melody, and the short sound patterns from an instrument such as a single small drum or gong, might be front and center.

The current largemouth bass record is shared by Manabu Kurita’s 22.5-pounder caught in 2009 at Japan’s Lake Biwa and George Perry’s 1932 record weighing 22.4 pounds from Georgia’s Montgomery Lake.