Home › Glossary › Letter S

Shakuhachi

Musical Instrument
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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 end-blown bamboo flute used in Zen meditation and solo performance

Detailed Definition
The shakuhachi’s breathy, microtonal tones appear in haiku and Zen poetry to symbolize emptiness, impermanence, and spiritual discipline; its use by komusō monks makes it a metaphor for the sound of silence and the path of lyrical enlightenment in verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
Japanese haiku poets link shakuhachi to Zen: “Shakuhachi breath— / bamboo emptiness / fills with wind”; Its notched mouth cuts illusion; “Five holes, five elements—shakuhachi measures void”; In warrior verse, the shakuhachi replaces sword: “Samurai’s flute—peace is the sharper blade.”
Additional Notes
The shakuhachi is a Japanese end-blown bamboo flute used by Zen monks (komusō) for suizen (“blowing meditation”); its breathy, imperfect tones embody wabi-sabi—ideal for poems about emptiness, the crack as path to truth, or the flute as tool for spiritual discipline rather than entertainment.
Also Known As
Japanese shakuhachi
Skip to main content