Have you ever heard the Japanese "yoo" sound before? A couple of days ago, my American friend Matt and I talked about this sound. Before chatting with him, I didn't know that this sound had already famous around the world.

When you hear this sound, how do you feel or what do you imagine? For some reason, I imagine Kabuki or ukiyo-e. I wanted to know why, so I researched about it.

The "yoo" sound originated in Kabuki in the 17th century. Audiences used it as a call to cheer on the performers and express their excitement and anticipation. The sound made the audiences feel as if they were participating in the performance with Kabuki actors. I guess it's something saying like "Bravo!" in English. We still use it when we are excited or looking forward to something.

Not only Kabuki but also Noh performers called hayashikata use this sound. In their case, they use it when they need to synchronize with the other hayashikata. It's used as a signal. When you listen to Japanese musicians playing instruments such as shamisen, you hear this sound as well.

Modern Japanese people still use the sound when we wrap things up. You can watch an example here.

I learned that the sound is easy to pronounce for non-Japanese people. Roland even built the sound into its synthesizer, and it started being used in video games and anime in 1990'. Now, it has become one of the representative sounds associated with Japan.

If you're curious about the sound, you can listen to it here.

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