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Nohkan

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 transverse bamboo flute with a high-pitched, piercing sound, used in Noh theater

Detailed Definition
The nohkan appears in poetry as a voice of theatrical intensity and spiritual rupture; its sharp tones cut through ritual silence, and poets use it to evoke otherworldliness, dramatic tension, or the breath of ghosts in traditional and modern Japanese verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
The nohkan’s shriek “cuts Noh silence like a ghost’s breath”; In a Japanese theatrical poem, its pitch “is otherworldliness made sound”; The instrument appears as “ritual rupture in bamboo”; A dramatic lyric uses nohkan to explore spiritual intensity.
Additional Notes
The nohkan, with its inserted nodo (bamboo membrane), produces a high-pitched, piercing tone that cuts through Noh theater’s ritual silence; in poetry, it symbolizes otherworldliness, dramatic rupture, and the breath of ghosts; students analyzing Japanese or theatrical verse should recognize its timbre as a deliberate aesthetic of spiritual intensity and sonic intrusion.
Also Known As
Noh flute Nohkan flute
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