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Why is the name 五右衛門 read as ごえもん?
How can the three kanji 五右衛 be read with only two syllables?

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Some people say that goemon(五右衛門), iemon(伊右衛門) are pronounced like that since it's hard to pronounce 2 or 3 continuous vowel sounds, as it supposed to read as "gouemon" (ごうゑもん) / "iuemon"(いうゑもん) per syllable.

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Was the original pronunciation goue or gōe? I guess actually goue, same as iue? That's indeed something of a tongue twister... :) Makes sense. – deceze Jun 25 '11 at 13:14
@deceze, I also think goue too, but I couldn't find it in dictionaries for reference, since those are names of people. – YOU Jun 25 '11 at 13:29

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