How to pronounce kinusaiga

Say it in one go

Four syllables to an English ear: kee as in key, noo as in noodle, sigh exactly like the English word, and gah with a hard g. Keep every vowel short and clean, and don't pause between the parts.

Sound by sound

Japanese counts sounds in morae (beats) rather than syllables. Written in hiragana, kinusaiga is five beats: き ぬ さ い が. The sa and the i are separate beats in Japanese, but said at normal speed they melt into one English-sounding syllable, sigh.

One detail if you want to sound really natural: the Japanese u is said with relaxed, barely rounded lips, so nu sits somewhere between noo and nuh. It is optional; kee-noo-sigh-gah is perfectly correct and will be understood by any Japanese speaker.

Rhythm and stress

English words have one strong syllable: TA-ble, ba-NA-na, to-MOR-row. Japanese doesn't work that way. Each beat takes roughly the same time, and the melody of a word comes from small changes in pitch, not from saying one part louder or longer.

So the best advice is: say all five beats evenly, like a gentle drum pattern, ki-nu-sa-i-ga. English speakers often land a light stress on sigh (kee-noo-SIGH-gah). That is fine and easily understood; just avoid stretching it into a long, heavy syllable.

Common mispronunciations

• kin-oo-SAY-gah: the middle is sigh (sa + i), not say.
• KYE-noo-sigh-gah or kai-nu: the first i is ee, as in key, never the i of kind.
• kin-YOO-sigh-gah: there is no y sound. It is noo, not new.
• kinu-SAH-ee-gah with a pause: run sa and i together.
• kee-noo-sigh-jah: the g is always hard, as in go.
• kinusaga: a spelling mistake that turns into a pronunciation mistake. The i is there, and it is heard.

What each character means

絹彩画 is three characters, each pronounced as one part of the word:

• 絹 kinu: silk. This is the native Japanese reading of the character.
• 彩 sai: colour, colouring, to adorn with colour. A reading borrowed from Chinese.
• 画 ga: picture, painting, as in manga (漫画) and hanga (版画, prints).

Together: a silk colour picture, or a picture painted with silk. The name was given by the artist Maeno Setsu, who created the technique, at the artist's first solo exhibition in 1993. More on the history in what is kinusaiga?

Kimekomi and other words

You will run into a few more Japanese words as you read about the craft. The rule is the same for all of them: every vowel pronounced, short and clean (a as in father, e as in met, i as in key, o as in boat but shorter, u as in noodle), and an even rhythm.

Kimekomi is the doll-making technique kinusaiga grew out of; the full story is in kinusaiga vs kimekomi. And once you can say it, you can make one: the step-by-step guide and the free patterns are waiting.