Any Japanese teacher with any level of skill will point out `only girls say
this` or `only boys say this.` I only had female Japanese teachers, but they
made a point of teaching the boys some masculine verb-endings and things
like that.
Being a heathen, I tend to use them regularly. And randomly mix them with
the femanine `wa.` It amuses people terribly.
Back on topic... while Japanese words don`t have a gender, `shakuhachi` does
have a male connotation, simply because as a rule only males play
shakuhachi. And koto has a female connotation, because only women learn
koto. But that connotation is strictly culture-based, not
grammatically-based.
And while I think most everyone on this list knows this... `shakuhachi`
refers to the traditional length of the flute. One shaku and eight (hachi)
sun in length.
~Rachael
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