Guide to Pronunciation

A guide to pronouncing the names in Tales of the Otori

Vowels are pronounced in the following way (as in British pronunciation):

‘a’ as the ‘a’ in ‘at’

‘e’ as the ‘e’ in ‘met’

‘i’ as the ‘i’ in ‘macaroni’

‘o’ as the ‘o’ in ‘plot’

‘u’ as the ‘oo’ in ‘book’

‘ai’ as in ‘eye’ - except in the surname Arai, which is A-ra-i

‘ii’ as in ‘week’

‘uu’ as in ‘blue’

Consonants are pronounced in the same way as English:

‘g’ is always hard as in ‘get’

‘j’ is soft as in ‘jetty’

‘ch’ as in ‘church’

‘z’ as in ‘zoo’

‘ts’ as in ‘itself’

Each syllable is pronounced separately:

O-to-ri Ta-ke-o

Shi-ge-ru

Shi-ra-ka-wa Ka-e-de

Mu-to Ken-ji

Shi-zu-ka

A-ra-i Dai-i-chi

Ii-da Sa-da-mu

Fu-ji-wa-ra

I-chi-ro

Emphasis is usually placed equally on each syllable.