HOTCHIKU: Japanese musical instrument

The hotchiku is an end-blown flute from Japan. The musical instrument is carved from the root section of the bamboo. After cleaning and sanding, the extreme root of the bamboo stalk reveals several small circular nubs where the root previously joined the stalk. The same part of the plant is as well used to manufacture the shakuhachi, though unlike the shakuhachi, the bore of the instrument, hotchiku, and the outside faces are left un-lacquered and the mouthpiece of the musical instrument is not inlaid. The membranes at the nodes inside the musical instrument bore are commonly left more intact than those of a shakuhachi. The hotchiku are sometimes called jinashi nobekan, meaning "without ji one-piece".

 The musical instrument is made up of four finger holes down the front for the finger and one hole on the back of the instrument for the thumb of the upper hand. The musical instrument is capable of a range of at least 2 octaves and more if the instrument is carved properly and in the hand of a skilled player. The instrument can be constructed to any length, suitable bamboo allowing with longer musical instrument having their frequency range moved proportionally lower.

The patterns of playing the hotchiku are analogous to the patterns of the shakuhachi, although the sound of the hotchiku is more fragile and less well tuned to musical scales than the refined tunes of shakuhachi. The angle of the blowing edge of a hotchiku is closer to perpendicular to the bore axis than of the shakuhachi, though this is mostly a choice of the producer depending on the size of the bamboo. This feature together with the un-lacquered bore, leads in rough and breathy tone quality. Because of the total natural construction, the musical instrument is widely used for Suizen. Since the musical instruments are not only commonly tuned to a standard musical scale, they do not commonly accompany other musical instruments.

Some famous players of this musical instrument are Watazumi Doso RoshiNishimura Koku and Atsuya Okuda