Kokyu

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Kokyu

The kokyu is a traditional Japanese string instrument

String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones....
, the only one played with a bow

Bow (music)

In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....
. Although it was supposedly introduced to Japan from China

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
along with the shamisen

Shamisen

The shamisen or samisen , also called sangen is a three-stringed musical instrument played with a plectrum called a bachi. The pronunciation in Japanese language is usually "shamisen" but sometimes "jamisen" rendaku ....
, its material, shape and sound are unique to Japan. The instrument also exists in an Okinawan version, called kucho in the Okinawan language

Okinawan language

Okinawan is a Ryukyuan languages spoken in Japan on the southern island of Okinawa, as well as the surrounding islands of Kerama, Kumejima, Okinawa, Tonaki, Okinawa, Aguni, Okinawa, and a number of smaller islands located to the east of the main island of Okinawa....
.

The instrument is similar in construction to the shamisen, appearing like a smaller version of that instrument.

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Encyclopedia

The kokyu is a traditional Japanese string instrument

String instrument

Bow (music)

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
along with the shamisen

Shamisen

Okinawan language

Ebony

Ebony is a general name for very dense black wood. In the strict sense it is yielded by several species in the genus Diospyros, but other heavy, black woods are sometimes also called ebony....
and a hollow body made of coconut

Coconut

The Coconut Palm is a member of the Family Arecaceae . It is the only species in the genus Cocos, and is a large palm, growing to 30 m tall, with pinnate leaf 4-6 m long, pinnae 60-90 cm long; old leaves break away cleanly leaving the trunk smooth....
or Styrax japonica wood, covered on both ends with cat skin (or snakeskin in Okinawa). It has three (or, more rarely, four) 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
Sankyoku

Sankyoku is a type of three-member Music of Japan ensemble. Formerly, it consisted of koto , shamisen, and kokyu but beginning in the 19th century it became much more common for the kokyu to be replaced by a shakuhachi....
ensemble, along with the koto
Koto (musical instrument)

The koto is a traditional Japanese string instrument musical instrument derived from the Chinese zither . The koto is the national instrument of Japan....
and shamisen
Shamisen

The shamisen or samisen , also called sangen is a three-stringed musical instrument played with a plectrum called a bachi. The pronunciation in Japanese language is usually "shamisen" but sometimes "jamisen" rendaku ....
, but beginning in the 20th century the shakuhachi
Shakuhachi

The is a Japanese end-blown flute flute. Its name means "1.8 feet", referring to its size. It is traditionally made of bamboo, but versions now exist in wood and plastic....
most often plays the role previously filled by the kokyu.

Since Shinei Matayoshi, a kokyu and sanshin
Sanshin

The sanshin is an Okinawan musical instrument, and precursor of the Japanese shamisen. Often likened to a banjo, it consists of a snakeskin-covered body, neck and three strings....
musician and sanshin maker, 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

John Kaizan Neptune is an United States player and builder of the shakuhachi . He is known particularly for his use of the instrument in non-traditional contexts, such as jazz and cross-cultural music....
.

The kokyu is similar to two Chinese bowed lutes with fingerboards: the leiqin
Leiqin

The leiqin is a Chinese bowed string instrument....
and the zhuihu
Zhuihu

The zhuihu is a two-stringed Bow string instrument from China. In construction, it resembles the sanxian, and likely evolved as a bowed version of that instrument....
. It should be noted that in Japanese, the term kokyu may refer broadly to any bowed string instrument of Asian origin, as does the Chinese term huqin
Huqin

Huqin are a family of bowed string instruments used in Chinese music. They consist of a round, hexagonal, or octagonal sound box at the bottom with a stick attached that protrudes upwards....
. Thus, the Chinese erhu
Erhu

The erhu , also called nanhu , and sometimes known in the West as the "Chinese violin" or "China two-string fiddle," is a two-stringed Bow musical instrument, used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras....
, which is also used by some performers in Japan, is sometimes described as a kokyu, along with the kucho, leiqin, and zhuihu. The specific Japanese name for erhu is niko.

Kokyu

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