Kokyū

The Template:Nihongo is the only traditional Japanese string instrument played with a bow. A variant of the instrument also exists in Okinawa, called Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) in Okinawan.

The Template:Transliteration, like the Template:Transliteration, has its origins in Okinawa. Although it is similar to Chinese Template:Transliteration, it actually came to Okinawa via the Template:Transliteration from Indonesia and Malaysia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The Template:Transliteration is similar in construction to the Template:Transliteration, appearing as a smaller version of that instrument. In Okinawa, the body is round, while in mainland Japan, it is square like a Template:Transliteration. It has three (or, more rarely, four) strings and is played upright, with a horsehair-strung bow bowing the strings. It is often tuned the same as a Template:Transliteration but an octave higher. In central Japan, the Template:Transliteration was formerly used as an integral part of the Template:Transliteration ensemble, along with the Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration, but beginning in the 20th century the Template:Transliteration began to play the role previously filled by the Template:Transliteration.

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

The Template:Transliteration 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.Template:Cn

The Template:Transliteration is similar to two Chinese bowed lutes with fingerboards: the Template:Transliteration and the Template:Transliteration. In Japanese, the term Template:Transliteration may refer broadly to any bowed string instrument of Asian origin, as does the Chinese term Template:Transliteration. Thus, the Chinese Template:Transliteration, which is also used by some performers in Japan, is sometimes described as a Template:Transliteration, along with the Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, and Template:Transliteration. The specific Japanese name for Template:Transliteration is Template:Transliteration.

See also

• Template:Transliteration
• Template:Transliteration
• Template:Transliteration
• Template:Transliteration
• Template:Transliteration
• Template:Transliteration

External links

• Co-Q.com (Japanese)

Listening

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