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Heron (Sagi)

A white-feathered bird that lives all over the world, the heron is noted for its cleanliness and is a popular subject of bird and flower paintings

Sagi (heron) is a general term for birds in the Ardeidae family of the order Pelecaniformes. About 72 species are distributed around the world, including 19 species found in Japan, including the gray heron, night heron, little egret, green-backed heron, eastern reef heron, and least bittern. The great egret, intermediate egret, little egret, and cattle egret have white wings and are called the white egrets.

       The heron's beak, neck, and legs are long and it flies with its head and neck in the shape of the letter Z. Herons prey on fish, crabs, shellfish, frogs, and insects in rivers, in lakes, and on beaches. They generally nest in tall trees and form colonies, but some live in grasslands and forests.

       The heron appears in the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters, ca. 711) as the hahakimochi, which seems to stand for purification. In her Pillow Book, Sei Shonagon said that the heron is ugly because of its eyes.

       In the thirteenth century during the Kamakura period, the Azuma kagami (Mirror of the East) likened a mysterious phenomenon to a heron: "There appeared a bright object resembling a white heron that then turned into what seemed like red fire whose flying traces appeared like a white ribbon dance."

       The Wakan sansai zue (Illustrated Sino-Japanese Encyclopedia, 1712), presents the Aosaginohi folktale, in which the body of a blue heron glows a light bluish white. This encyclopedia entry shows that this folktale was well known during the Edo period. The blue heron's light is also called the Goinohi (goi fire) or Goinohikari (goi light). Goi is the name of the night heron, derived from the official court rank translated as "the fifth rank." The Heike monogatari (Tale of the Heike), tells the story that a heron was about to take off from Shinsen Garden, but returned in response to a call from an official conveying the orders of the emperor, and that for this behavior, it was awarded the fifth rank. Thereafter, people called the night heron "the fifth rank" (goi).

       A similar story is told in a Noh dance. In "Sagi midare" (The Heron's Wild Dance), a newly released heron engages in a light, joyous dance. The heron, featured in the main role, is played by either a young boy or an old man over 60 or 70. The reason for this custom seems to be to show respect for the pure white heron's cleanliness. Several alternative names for the heron—sekkaku (snow guest), hakucho (white bird), and setsuro (snowy heron)—are related to its white color.

       The heron is also a popular subject in Japan for flower and bird paintings, and it is also a symbol of descendants' affluence and prosperity. This is perhaps due to the impression the heron gives of a noble figure standing in a muddy swamp.

Related People, Things and Events

Books

博物誌などにみえる鷺

史書・古典にみえる鷺

Related Works

Japanese heron (a member of the pelican family)

Heron drawings in paintings

Heron drawings on craft works (ceramics)

Heron drawings on craft works (metal works and lacquer works)

Heron drawings on clothing

国宝・重要文化財を探す

Videos

Institutions Holding Related Materials

  • 三重県の公立博物館。自然科学系の展示が充実しており、鷺の剥製も多数所蔵する。

  • The National Diet Library (NDL), founded in 1948, is the library which belongs to the Diet. The NDL assists the activities of the National Diet. The Library collects and conserves materials and information both from Japan and abroad, serving as a foundation of knowledge and culture and providing library services to administrative and judicial entities and Japanese citizens.

  • Established in 1877, the National Museum of Nature and Science (Kahaku) is one of the oldest museums in Japan. It is also the only national museum in the country that offers a comprehensive exhibition of natural history and the history of science and technology. It collects and preserves a variety of collections, such as natural history specimens, historical objects, and scientific and technical documents, and so on.

  • As Japan’s representative museum, Tokyo National Museum collects, preserves, displays, and researches the cultural properties of Asia with a focus on Japan, and also provides educational programs.

  • As Japan’s representative museum, Tokyo National Museum collects, preserves, displays, and researches the cultural properties of Asia with a focus on Japan, and also provides educational programs.

  • Kyoto National Museum collects, preserves, displays, researches and provides educational programs focusing on cultural properties from Heian- through to Edo- period Japan, when the capital was located there.

  • The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum is founded on November 3, 1983, in Hachioji, a thriving university town in the western suburbs of the Japanese capital. Priding itself as “a museum creating bridges around the world” to facilitate the exchange of different cultures, our museum has forged cordial relations with art museums and cultural institutes in 32 countries and territories to date. We do so by bringing the world’s finest works of art to Japan while reciprocating in kind by introducing the finest Japanese treasures to the world through special exhibitions that showcase their beauty and wonder through a unique new set of prisms and perspectives. Our museum possesses some 30,000 pieces of artworks from various periods and cultures including Japanese, Eastern and Western works, ranging from paintings, prints, photography, sculptures, ceramics and lacquer ware to armor, swords and medallions. Especially noteworthy is its outstanding collection of Western oil paintings that spans a five-hundred-year period from the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, and Romanticism to Impressionism and contemporary art, as well as its exceptional collection of photographic masterpieces that can give an overview of the history of photography from the birth of the photograph to the present age.

  • Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art was founded as the successor of the Aichi Prefectural Art Gallery, which originally opened in Sakae, the center of Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, in 1955. The museum opened in 1992 as part of the Aichi Arts Center, an urban cultural complex, and has established a wide-range collection of approximately 8,000 items, centered on works of art of the twentieth century. The Museum has also organized numerous exhibition of a wide-range of themes. The Museum has actively worked to develop and communicate new aspects of art and culture to the public, based on its core mission to serve as the primary art museum of the Chubu region.

External Links

  • 日本に生息する野鳥の写真と解説を種類別で掲載。ペリカン目サギ科の18種類を紹介する。

  • SUNTORYが運営する鳥の百科事典。特徴や鳴き声で検索することができる。

  • 日本でよく見かける6種類のサギについて、その区別のしかたや行動について紹介。(文:ミュージアムパーク茨城県自然博物館)

References

  1. 「鷺」の項
  2. 「鷺」の項
  3. 「鷺」の項