![]() The specific Japanese name for erhu is niko. Thus, the Chinese erhu, which is also used by some performers in Japan, is sometimes described as a kokyū, along with the kūchō, leiqin, and zhuihu. In Japanese, the term kokyū may refer broadly to any bowed string instrument of Asian origin, as does the Chinese term huqin. The kokyū is similar to two Chinese bowed lutes with fingerboards: the leiqin and the zhuihu. 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. The koto was imported from China between the 7th and 8th. ![]() It is a zither with a long body and is usually called the 'Japanese harp' due to the melodious sounds it produces. The kokyū 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. Koto is a traditional music instrument played by plucking its string, in the same way as the shamisen. A kokyū society, dedicated to promoting the instrument, exists in Japan. Since Shinei Matayoshi, a kokyū and sanshin musician and maker, invented and popularized a four-stringed version of the kokyū in order to expand the instrument's range, the kokyū has become much more popular. ![]() In central Japan, the kokyū was formerly used as an integral part of the sankyoku ensemble, along with the koto and shamisen, but beginning in the 20th century the shakuhachi began to play the role previously filled by the kokyū. It is often tuned the same as a shamisen but an octave higher. It has three (or, more rarely, four) strings and is played upright, with a horsehair-strung bow bowing the strings. In Okinawa, the body is round, while in mainland Japan, it is square like a shamisen. It is 70 centimetres (28 in) tall, with a neck made of ebony and a hollow body made of coconut or Styrax japonicus wood, covered on both ends with cat skin (or snakeskin in Okinawa). The kokyū is similar in construction to the shamisen, appearing as a smaller version of that instrument. ![]() Although it is similar to Chinese huqin, it actually came to Okinawa via the rebab from Indonesia and Malaysia. The kokyū, like the shamisen, has its origins in Okinawa. A variant of the instrument also exists in Okinawa, called kūchō ( 胡弓) in Okinawan. The kokyū ( 胡弓) is a traditional Japanese string instrument, the only one played with a bow. ![]()
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