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桜花群鴉図 菊池芳文 /

Crow

A large land bird of the Corvidae family, believed to be a sacred bird that serves the gods, but also viewed as an ill omen

    Crows are large land birds of the Corvidae family. Their overall size is 35 to 70 centimeters. In all species, both the male and female are a beautiful glossy black color with a blue, green, purple, or reddish-bronze luster. They are skillful and powerful fliers with long wings. They have long and sturdy beaks and legs. They are omnivorous, but have a strong preference for carrion and a habit of hiding food. Crows are known for their ability to learn and adapt. There are approximately 130 species in the Corvidae family. In Japan, the two most common species are the large-billed crow (Corvus macrorhynchos) and the carrion crow (Corvus corone), which can be found throughout the country all year long.

       The crow is worshipped all over the world as a major deity, and crows are seen as incarnations of ancestors. In Chinese mythology, a three-legged crow is believed to inhabit the sun. In Japan, many shrines venerate crows as messengers of the gods, as in such Shinto rituals as Karasu Matsuri (Crow Festival), Otogui (a ritual to consult a god's will by offering food to crows and observing how they eat it), and Karasu Kanjo (a form of divination to predict the quality of the year's harvest by observing crows' behavior). According to the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters), the three-legged crow Yatagarasu guided the army of the legendary Emperor Jimmu on his journey to Yamato. In the Engi shiki (Procedures of the Engi Era, early tenth century), the blue crow, the red crow, and the three-legged crow are the most auspicious omens, and the white crow, the blue-green crow, and the green crow are considered second-order omens. During the Edo period (1603-1868), there appeared a distinctive version of Shinto called "Shinto conveyed by the crow" (Uden Shinto), said to come from Yatagarasu, the legendary three-legged crow. The crow is also often associated with ill omens. Sei Shonagon, in her pillow book Makura no soshi (1002), mentions crows among hateful things. According to numerous folk beliefs and superstitions, the ominous loud cry of the crow portends approaching death. Crows are also prominently featured in family crests. For instance, the crest maichigai karasu shows crows in flight, Kumano sanba karasu displays the three crows of Kumano, and mukaigarasu shows two crows facing each other. Finally, the Japanese language has several idioms related to the color, features, and behavior of crows. A karasu neko ("crow cat") is a black cat. A karasugai ("crow mussel") is the black cockscomb pearl mussel. A vagrant with no settled home is called a "traveling crow" (tabigarasu). And a quick bath is called a "crow's bath" (karasu no gyozui).

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Crows in history books and classical literature

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Institutions Holding Related Materials

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • The Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Art stands as the nexus of art advancement in Japan, charged with fostering the creation and development of art and culture in Japan, and the cultivation of aesthetic awareness among the Japanese people. Through its six art museums — The National Museums of Modern Art, Tokyo and Kyoto, National Film Archive of Japan, the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, the National Museum of Art, Osaka, and the National Art Center, Tokyo — the National Museum of Art carries out diverse and distinctive activities that fully utilize the unique character of each member museum.

  • 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.

  • ハシブトガラスとハシボソガラスが「北海道産動物舎」で飼育展示されている。所在地は北海道旭川市。

External Links

  • カラス類など野鳥の生態と連鎖関係を研究し、学術の発展に貢献するとともに、野鳥と人が共存するための道しるべを確立して生態系の安定や環境保全を図ることを目的とする。

  • 日本のカラス、世界のカラス、カラスの民俗学、カラス対策、カラスの事件、ハシブトガラスの生態など。

  • SUNTORYが運営する鳥の百科事典。フリーワードや特徴、鳴き声で検索できる。イラストや写真も豊富。

  • 日本野鳥の会が運営するサイト。野鳥に関するさまざまな情報を得ることができる。膨大な数の投稿写真は、検索しやすいように分類されている。烏は「身近な鳥」から検索。

  • 烏についての基礎知識やその現状、具体的な対策について詳細に書かれている。環境省作成。

  • 日本のカラス7種、ハシブトガラス、ハシボソガラス、コクマルガラス、ミヤマガラス、ワタリガラス、ホシガラス、カチガラス(カササギ)の特徴や鳴き声を紹介する。

References

  1. 平凡社
  2. 小学館