Image:Http://www.pcs.ne.jp/~iseman/images/kokyu.jpg, "Japanese Kokyu" The kokyū (胡弓) is a traditional Japanese string instrument, the only one played with a bow. Although it was supposedly introduced to Japan from China along with the shamisen, its material, shape and sound are unique to Japan. The instrument also exists in an Okinawan version, called kucho in the Okinawan language. A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. ... In music, a bow is a device pulled across the strings of a string instrument in order to make them vibrate and emit sound. ... Kitagawa Utamaro, Flowers of Edo: Young Womans Narrative Chanting to the Samisen, ca. ... This article is about the prefecture. ... Okinawan (Okinawan Uchinaaguchi) is a Ryukyuan language spoken in Japan on the southern island of Okinawa, as well as the surrounding islands of Kerama, Kume-jima, Tonaki, Aguni, and a number of smaller islands located to the east of the main island of Okinawa. ...

The instrument is similar in construction to the the shamisen, appearing like a smaller version of that instrument. It is 70 cm (28 inches) tall, with a neck made of ebony and a hollow body made of coconut or Stylax japonica wood, covered on both ends with cat skin (or snakeskin in Okinawa). It has three strings and is played upright, with the horsetail-strung bow rubbing against the strings. In central Japan, the kokyu was formerly used as an integral part of the sankyoku ensemble, along with the koto and shamisen, but beginning in the 20th century the shakuhachi most often plays the role previously filled by the kokyu. This article is about a type of timber. ... Binomial name Cocos nucifera L. The Coconut Palm (Cocos nucifera), is a member of the Family Arecaceae (palm family). ... Sankyoku (三曲, often romanized sankyōku) is a three-member Japanese traditional musical ensemble. ... Masayo Ishigure plays the koto The koto (Japanese: 箏) is a traditional stringed musical instrument from Japan resembling a zither. ... Kitagawa Utamaro, Flowers of Edo: Young Womans Narrative Chanting to the Samisen, ca. ... A shakuhachi, showing its utaguchi (blowing edge) and inlay The shakuhachi (尺八 in Japanese, pronounced /shakoo-hatchee/) is a Japanese end-blown flute which is held vertically like a recorder instead of being held transversely like the familiar Western transverse flute. ...

Since Shinei Matayoshi, a kokyu and sanshin musician and sanshin producer, invented and popularized a four-stringed version of the kokyu in order to expand the instrument's range, the kokyu has become much more popular. A kokyu society, dedicated to promoting the instrument, exists in Japan.

The kokyu has also been used in jazz and blues, with the American multi-instrumentalist Eric Golub pioneering the instrument's use in these non-traditional contexts. One of the few non-Japanese performers of the instrument, he has recorded as a soloist as well as with the cross-cultural jazz band of John Kaizan Neptune. John Kaizan Neptune (b. ...

It should be noted that the Chinese erhu, which is also used by some performers in Japan, is sometimes (mistakenly) also called kokyu. Side view of an erhu. ...

The kokyu is similar to two Chinese bowed lutes with fingerboards: the leiqin and the zhuihu. The leiqin is a Chinese bowed string instrument. ... The zhuihu (坠胡, pinyin: zhùihú; also called zhuiqin or zhuizixian) is a two-stringed bowed string instrument from China. ...

External links

• Eric Golub official site
• Eric Golub's blog
• Co-Q.com (Japanese)
• Kokyu photo

Listening

• Kokyu audio (click small white stars to listen to individual tracks)

See also

• Shamisen
• Sankyoku
• Leiqin
• Zhuihu
• Erhu