Crane (Tsuru)
A symbol of longevity and health, the crane figures prominently in the pine-and-crane motif, seen in many paintings
Tsuru (crane) is a general term for large birds of 4 genera and 15 species of the crane family (Gruidae). In Japan, well-known cranes are the red-crowned crane, a bird resident around the Kushiro Marsh in Hokkaido, and the hooded crane and white-naped crane, which fly to Honshu and Kyushu as winter birds. But cranes are also common in Asia.
In both the East and West, cranes have been regarded as auspicious birds. In China, the crane was considered a long-lived bird that gives birth for the first time at the age of 1,600. The loud cry of the crane is due to its characteristic long trachea, and people at the time, it is said, confused its trachea with Chinese medicine's Ren Meridian (the line of key acupuncture points for life maintenance along the anterior median line of the human body).
The crane is also believed to be a long-lived bird in Japan, where people say, "A crane lives a thousand years, and a turtle lives ten thousand years" (actually, cranes are known to live 20 to 30 years in the wild). In addition, the crane’s graceful appearance as it descends from the sky gives credence to the idea that cranes are vehicles for wizards. No wonder that the crane is incorporated into the logos of Japan Airlines and Lufthansa. Since the crane is an auspicious bird that flies from foreign countries, tsuru appears in many Japanese place names, such as Tsuruoka (Crane Hill), Tsurumi (Where the cranes are seen), and Maizuru (Dancing Cranes).
Pines and cranes have been a popular motif in paintings, but this was a result of cranes being confused with storks, which nest in pine trees. Cranes nest on the ground, such as in moors and grasslands, and rarely perch on trees.
Along with the pine, the crane is a symbol of longevity and health and is used for the front decoration of public baths. This is why many public baths have names like Matsu no yu (Pine Hot Bath) and Tsuru no yu (Crane Hot Bath). The same association of cranes and pines with longevity and health can also be seen in the Japanese card game hanafuda (Japanese playing cards), where the crane and pine cards together form a high-scoring combination.
Crane meat was highly prized during the Edo period (1603-1867), since eating it was thought to allow one to live a long life. As part of the palace New Year's celebrations, a crane was dressed in front of the emperor. Not only the emperor, daimyo too enjoyed crane meat on special occasions. Crane meat was considered such a luxury that cranes were often presented to the shogunate. In the Edo-period haiku collection Kefukigusa, many dishes using crane meat are mentioned. In addition, bakufu hunting records state that while they served as shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune caught 22 "black cranes" (hooded cranes or white-naped cranes) and Tokugawa Ienari caught 13.
The habitat of the 140-centimeter-long white-naped crane and the smaller hooded crane is mainly from Siberia to northern China, but they move south to Japan to spend the winter. Past landing sites in Japan have been lost owing to environmental destruction. The Izumi Plain in Kagoshima Prefecture has become a highly populated landing site and has also become a national nature reserve. As a result, 50 percent of all white-naped cranes and 80 percent of all hooded cranes concentrate there, and the total number of birds that spend the winter in Japan exceeds 10,000. Consequently, in the event of an infectious disease, there is a risk of a mass die-out. In fact, highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses have been found in these cranes, a situation that requires careful management.
The red-crowned crane, also known as the Japanese crane or Manchurian crane, has been popular in Japan and China since ancient times. Indeed, the term tsuru, in its narrow sense, refers to this species of crane. This crane's graceful appearance makes it a favorite subject in many works of art and many paintings. The scientific name of this bird, Grus japonensis, means Japanese crane. The red-crowned crane is truly a bird that represents Japan.
Also, construction cranes are so named because they resemble cranes. The same applies to the Dutch word kraan (faucet). Cranberries (crane berries) got their name because the cranberry shrub bears a flower that looks like a crane.
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鶴の渡来地である鹿児島県出水市にある博物館。サイト内に荒崎ツル保護区を見られるライブカメラあり。
鶴の生息地である北海道釧路市の自然公園。1年を通して丹頂鶴を間近で観察することができる。
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.
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.
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.
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.
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SUNTORYが運営する鳥の百科事典。特徴や鳴き声で検索ができる。
環境省が毎年行っている渡り鳥の飛来調査。全国39地点の調査地への渡り鳥の飛来状況や飛来数などを詳細に載せている。
サントリー美術館のコレクションデータベース。野々村仁清作「色絵鶴香合」を見ることができる。
福岡美術館のコレクションデータベース。狩野探幽画「寿老人・松鶴・竹鶴図」を見ることができる。
References
- 日立デジタル平凡社,平凡社
- 今橋理子 [著],講談社
- 狩野博幸 監修,河出書房新社