Kokyu
Categories: Bowed instruments | Japanese instruments | String instruments
The kokyū (胡弓) is a traditional Japanese string instrument, the only one played with a bow. Although it was supposedly introduced to Japan from China along with the shamisen, its material, shape and sound are unique to Japan. The instrument also exists in an Okinawan version, called kucho in the Okinawan language.
The instrument is 70 cm (28 inches) tall, with a neck made of ebony and a hollow body made of coconut or Stylax japonica wood, covered on both ends with cat skin (or snakeskin in Okinawa). It has three 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 ensemble, along with the koto and shamisen, but beginning in the 20th century the shakuhachi most often plays the role previously filled by the kokyu.
Since Shinei Matayoshi, a kokyu and sanshin musician and sanshin producer, 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.