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Kokyū

Musical Instrument
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A Japanese bowed lute with a square body and three or four strings

Detailed Definition
The kokyū’s soft, nasal tone appears in Edo-period and modern Japanese poetry to evoke theatricality, intimacy, and cultural hybridity; its rarity and historical marginality make it a symbol of overlooked voices and subtle emotional textures in verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
Japanese haiku poets compare the kokyū’s bow to “a willow branch weeping over pond”; Its dark tone shadows shamisen’s brightness; “Kokyū hums—tea steam curls into ancestor shapes”; In gendered verse, the kokyū’s rarity mirrors women’s silenced voices: “Three strings, all unheard—until now.”
Additional Notes
The kokyū is a Japanese bowed lute with three or four strings, used in traditional ensembles; its dark, reedy tone contrasts with the brighter shamisen—ideal for poems about shadow aesthetics, the rarity of bowed sound in East Asian traditions, or the instrument as a quiet counterpoint to dominant plucked textures.
Also Known As
Japanese kokyū
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