Kinshi Tsuruta (1911–1995) was an eminent Japanese musician of the 20th century. She specialized in the ancient pear-shaped plucked lute called biwa, and also sang. She developed her own form of the Satsuma biwa, which she called the Tsuruta biwa. Tsuruta achieved international attention for her New York City premiere performance, in November 1967, of Tōru Takemitsu's November Steps with the New York Philharmonic, under the direction of Seiji Ozawa (with shakuhachi player Katsuya Yokoyama).