Japanese Artificial - handed Guitarist to Perform Abroad

An all-female rock band "Moss in Lilac" is fantastically unique in that one of the four members, Lisa Minegishi, 20, was born without right hand and still leads the band. She had her right hand made by her father and says she has never felt impaired and that "continuing music is her reason for living".

Lisa 13 is her stage name and started her band in October, 2013. Lisa 13 wears a pink hair, dressed in shocking black and moves about frantically on the stage.

Her grandfather is a guitarist and her mother a pianist and was blessed with plenty of musical environment though without a hand. She yearned to be like the guitarist Torayaku Hotei and "hide" of the X-Japan. Lisa invested her New Year's gift saved up over three years and bought her first guitar when she turned 6th grade. At first she laid her guitar flat on the floor and learned to press chords, like Koto, with her left hand. The sight of her daughter battling with the instrument, her mother, Reiko, 47, decided to find her an artificial right hand to play the guitar with but couldn't find one good enough to withstand delicate and powerful movements of the right hand.

Then, her father, Kadumi, 53, decided to "make one" himself. He collected materials at a nearby DIY and, after trials and errors, built an artificial hand to be Lisa's right hand - complete with picks to pluck the strings with.
In no time Lisa learned how to play her guitar and after graduation from her junior high entered a high school in Tokyo where she could study with guitar teachers. Lisa was eager to be a professional musician. Now, she has her fifth-generation right hand plays the instrument without any sense of discomfort.

Lisa now composes for the band, 50 pieces so far, and released a CD last August.