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Vinony

shakuhachi

noun

  1. a Japanese bamboo flute
L1453056 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ʃɑkuˈhɑt͡ʃiː/

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from Japanese 尺八 (しゃくはち, shakuhachi), from 尺 (tsyhek, an archaic measure of length approximately equal to 30 centimeters) + 八 (peat, “eight”), corresponding to the standard length of the instrument (approximately 55 centimeters).

  1. A Japanese flute which is tuned to a pentatonic scale and is end-blown like a recorder instead of being held transversely like the Western transverse flute.

    “Sampled shakuhachi sounds on the E-mu Emulator II were heard in the 1980s in TV ads and also appeared prominently in popular songs, as in the opening section of Peter Gabriel's 1986 “Sledgehammer,”[…]”