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Pelicans are a genus of large plunge-diving water birds that makes up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterised by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching fish and draining water from the scooped up contents before swallowing. Fossil evidence of pelicans dates back to at least 30 million years. They are thought to have evolved in the Old World and spread into the Americas. The genus of Pelecanus was first formally described in 1758. The Dalmatian pelicans who breed in Mongolia winter along the east coast of China, including the Hong Kong area and occasionally they visit Japan.
The name comes from the Ancient Greek word pelekan, which is itself derived from the word pelekys meaning "axe". In classical times, the word was applied to both the pelican and the woodpecker. In Japan this big seabird is called garancho. Pelicans also have a long history of cultural significance in mythology, and in Christian and heraldic iconography. In medieval Europe, the pelican was thought to be particularly attentive to her young, to the point of providing her own blood by wounding her own breast when no other food was available. As a result, the pelican came to symbolize the Passion of Jesus and the Eucharist, and usurped the image of the lamb and the flag. Elizabeth I of England ( who was Shakespeare's Patron ) adopted the symbol, portraying herself as the "mother of the Church of England". A pelican feeding her young is depicted in an oval panel at the bottom of the title page of the first (1611) edition of the King James Bible. The self-sacrificial aspect of the pelican was reinforced by the widely read medieval bestiaries. The device of "a pelican in her piety" or "a pelican vulning (from Latin vulno, "to wound") herself" was used in heraldry. An older version of the myth is that the pelican used to kill its young then resurrect them with its blood, again analogous to the sacrifice of Jesus. The legends of self-wounding and the provision of blood may have arisen because of the impression a pelican sometimes gives that it is stabbing itself with its bill. In reality, it often presses this onto its chest in order to fully empty the pouch. Another possible derivation is the tendency of the bird to rest with its bill on its breast; the Dalmatian pelican has a blood-red pouch in the early breeding season and this may have contributed to the myth. The legendary Pelican Shakespeare series features authoritative and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans.
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Fish are abundant in most bodies of water. They can be found in nearly all aquatic environments, from high mountain streams to the abyssal and even hadal depths of the deepest oceans. With 33,100 described species, fish exhibit greater species diversity than any other group of vertebrates. In the Book of Jonah a "great fish" swallowed Jonah the Prophet. Fish themes have symbolic significance in many religions. The fish is used often as a symbol by Christians to represent Jesus, or Christianity in general; the gospels also refer to "fishers of men" and feeding the multitude. In Japan, the fish means well-being, happiness and freedom. It is one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols used in Buddhism imported from China. The fish symbolizes living in a state of fearlessness, without danger of drowning in the ocean of sufferings, and migrating from place to place freely and spontaneously. Then of course, there's the Japanese namazu (catfish). These creatures are believed to be especially sensitive to an earthquake's precursors and behave in a peculiar way, warning people to take pre-emptive action. There is scant scientific basis for this. There's also a legend that a giant catfish called Namazu lives in mud beneath the Japanese islands. This catfish likes to thrash about; something that could cause untold calamity for the people living above, since this catfish really is huge. Fortunately, however, Namazu is kept under control by the demigod Kashima. He keeps a huge magical rock in position over the catfish, and as long as Kashima maintains this position, people above ground are safe. However, if Kashima relaxes, then people suffer an earthquake. In William Shakespeare's love tragedy " Troilus and Cressida " one can read: "Cressida: My lord, will you be true? Troilus: Who, I? Alas, it is my vice, my fault: Whiles others fish with craft for great opinion, I with great truth catch mere simplicity; Whilst some with cunning gild their copper crowns, With truth and plainness I do wear mine bare. Fear not my truth: the moral of my wit is "plain and true"; there's all the reach of it".
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Red rockfish, Japanese red sea perch or mebaru in Japanese is a species of rockfish native to the northwestern Pacific Ocean where it occurs off the coasts of Japan and the Korean Peninsula. This fish is very important to both commercial fisheries and the sport fishing industry. Baits for this perch include minnows, or lugworms, and ragworms, shrimps, and artificial lures. When fishing with bait, the angler will want to have a disgorger; perch are notorious for swallowing the hook, and will need aid of a disgorger or forceps for unhooking. Mebaru images were a significant part of once very popular traditional Japanese fish printing technique called gyotaku. Gyotaku (Japanese from gyo "fish" + taku "rubbing") is the traditional Japanese method of printing fish, a practice which dates back to the mid-1800s. This form of nature printing may have been used by fishermen to record their catches, but has also become an art form of its own. In "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare the main protagonist states: "[...] a man can fish with the worm that ate a king, and then eat the fish he catches with that worm. CLAUDIUS: What do you mean by that? HAMLET: Nothing much, just to demonstrate that a king can move through the guts of a beggar ".
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Red cardinals or simply Cardinals are passerine songbirds found in North and South America. Red cardinals are not endemic to Japan and belong rather to the invasive species. In Japan they are called shoujoukoukanchou. The northern cardinal type species were named by pilgrims for the male's red crest, reminiscent of a Catholic cardinal's biretta and cassock. The red cardinal bird holds special spiritual meaning for Christians as they symbolize everlasting vitality (the faith in the blood of Christ as the birds are red in color), Christmas (the birth of Christ) and are also considered a creative force (the red color equals vitality and creativity). The term cardinal is used to denote something with primary or essential qualities, such as a cardinal directions ( north, south, east and west), something of fundamental (crucial, pivotal )importance, cardinal rule or a number that indicates quantity. The word comes from the Latin cardo, meaning hinge. Something that has cardinal qualities is so important that it functions as a keystone or axle; other things hinge around it. It is so called after the term Greek kardia (heart), because the heart (cor) governs and moves the whole person. The Cherokee indians believe that the cardinal is the daughter of the sun. Legend has it that if you see a cardinal flying upward, toward the sun, you will have good luck. Conversely, if you see it flying down toward the earth, watch out for bad luck. The number 12 is considered a lucky number by many Native Americans. The number 12 also is associated with the cardinal. Cardinals are seen during all 12 months of the year. A cardinal's nest often contains 12 eggs. In the Japanese cosmology, the Creator is sat on 12 sacred cushions. The 12 animals of the Chinese and Japanese horoscope are: the Rat ( Mouse ), the Ox, the Tiger, the Cat, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Goat, the Monkey, the Cock, the Dog and the Pig ( Boar) . The 12 lunar years in the Chinese lunar calendar forming the complete cycle which lasts 60 years.
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firefly ( see Rock 9 )
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Gulls, often referred to as seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. Gulls are typically medium to large birds, usually grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. They typically have harsh wailing or squawking calls, stout, longish bills, and webbed feet. Mrs. Avia Venefica writes on her web-site: " The moniker "seagull" is ubiquitous. There are actually several different kinds of gulls, but most of us clump them under the name "seagull". In fact, it's a poor name, because seagull's aren't found exclusively by the sea. They are often found inland, and can thrive in both fresh and salt water areas. This is a good start to symbolic meaning of seagulls. It speaks about opportunity, resources, adaptability and risk taking. Seagulls go where they can find the best food. The word "gull" is derived from "gullible". It's named thusly, presumably because the seagull will swallow anything it can cram down its gullet. Symbolically, this begs the question: "Do we swallow everything we hear or see?" In essence, this aspect of seagull symbolism encourages using our wits to determine the truth. This seagull behavior reminds us to discern, rather than blindly follow without further investigation. Seagulls are quite chatty. They have no problems squawking and letting their voices be heard. As far as the symbolic meaning of seagulls goes, this is a pretty big sign. Seagulls might be a reminder to find our voices, and be fearless about speaking our minds. Many cultures associate the seagull with freedom ". The black-tailed gull is resident in East Asia, including China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea. As the name suggests, it has a black tail. The bird has a cat-like call, giving it its Japanese name umineko, "sea cat". The bird is common in Japan, nesting from Hokkaido to Western Kyushu. An enormous gathering of black-tailed gulls can be found at the Kabushima Shrine at Hachinohe, Aomori, Japan. This Shinto shrine was raised by fishermen in 1269 to honor the black-tailed gull, which is seen as a messenger of the goddess of the fishery. For over 700 years, the species has enjoyed reverence, feeding and protection from the local population. As a result, every summer, over 40,000 seagulls nest and raise their young in the grounds of the shrine and the surrounding island, which has been designated a National Natural Treasure by the government of Japan. The seagulls are very tame and are a popular local tourist attraction.
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The woodpeckers are part of the Picidae family, a group of near-passerine birds that also consist of piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. There are about 200 species and about 30 genera in this family. Many species are threatened or endangered due to loss of habitat or habitat fragmentation.The evolutionary history of this group is not well documented, but the known fossils allow some preliminary conclusions: the earliest known modern picids were piculet-like forms of the Late Oligocene, about 25 million years ago. Japanese green woodpecker or Japanese woodpecker (Picus awokera) is a medium-sized woodpecker similar and closely related to the European green woodpecker, but endemic to Japan. This species reaches about 30 cm in length, with bright green wings and tail, a red or black mustache and crown (as opposed to the black face of the green woodpecker), gray head, neck, and chest, and white underparts with black markings. The Japanese green woodpecker is divided into at least two subspecies: awokera, the nominate subspecies, found on Honshu, and horii, native to Kyushu. The binomial is a reference to the Japanese name of the species, aogera. In Japan the woodpecker was known as a lucky bird that brought good fortune to hunters; people honored it with a salute when it was seen. Mrs. Avia Venefica writes on her web-site: " The woodpecker is an attention-grabber, and those who claim this amazing bird as their totem will attest to its ability to shake up awareness. Nothing breaks the silence of a hiking in the woods like the urgent, rapid-fire percussion of a woodpecker's rapping against a tree. When I hear the woodpecker knocking, I think of opportunity. You know the old saying 'when opportunity knocks, answer the door.' That's precisely what I'm driving at here. Further, the symbolic meaning of woodpecker indicates a return to our roots, or having trust in our basic (gut) feelings. Dr. Carl Jung observed the woodpecker as a symbol of a return to the womb of creativity. In this observation the tree is symbolic of a womb; earthy, grounded, sturdy and secure. The woodpecker's home within the tree is analogous of a fierce determination to return and protect that which is sacred to us". Shakespeare has no mention of the woodpecker in his works, but in his time this bird was called yaffle and its cry was held to foretell rain.
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Ladybird or Coccinellidae is a widespread family of small beetles ranging from 0.8 to 18 mm. They are commonly yellow, orange, or red with small black spots on their wing covers, with black legs, heads and antennae. However such color patterns vary greatly. Coccinellids are found worldwide, with over 6,000 species described. Coccinellids are known as ladybugs in North America, and ladybirds in other areas. Harmonia axyridis, most commonly known as the harlequin, multicolored Asian, or simply Asian ladybeetle, is a large coccinellid beetle. This is one of the most variable species in the world, with an exceptionally wide range of color forms. It is native to eastern Asia, but has been artificially introduced to North America and Europe to control aphids and scale insects. It is now common, well known, and spreading in those regions, and has also established in South Africa and widely across South America. This species is conspicuous in North America where it may locally be known as the Halloween ladybeetle. It earns this name as it often invades homes during October, in order to prepare for overwintering. In Japan, it is not generally distinguished from the seven-spot ladybird which is also common there.
Entomologists widely prefer the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles as these insects are not classified as true bugs. The majority of coccinellid species are generally considered useful insects. Many cultures consider coccinellids lucky and have nursery rhymes or local names for the insects that reflect this. In many countries, including Russia, Turkey, and Italy, the sight of a coccinellid is either a call to make a wish or a sign that a wish will soon be granted. In Christian areas, coccinellids are often associated with the Virgin Mary and the name that the insect bears in the various languages of Europe corresponds to this. Though historically many European languages referenced Freyja, the fertility goddess of Norse mythology, in the names, the Virgin Mary has now largely supplanted her, so that, for example, freyjuhna (Old Norse) and Frouehenge have been changed into marihne (Norwegian) and Marienkaefer (German), which corresponds with Our Lady's bird. Sometimes, the insect is referred to as belonging directly to God ( Polish: boza krowka or Russian: bosh'ya korowka, all meaning "God's [little] cow"). In Dutch it is called lieveheersbeestje, meaning "little animal of our Good Lord". In both Hebrew and Yiddish, it is called "Moshe Rabbenu's (i.e. Moses's) little cow". Occasionally, it is called "little Messiah" as well. The word " Ladybird" can be found by William Shakespeare in " Romeo and Juliet", Act I, Scene III:
"Nurse: Now, by my maidenhead, at twelve year old,
I bade her come. What, lamb! what, ladybird!
God forbid! Where’s this girl? What, Juliet!"
So why the unusual name? Before Shakespeare shortened it up, the beetle had the more cumbersome name “Our Lady’s Bird,” a reference to the Virgin Mary. There are a few competing explanations for how the Virgin Mary got caught up in the naming of a bug. The UK Ladybird Survey suggests: "The most common species of ladybird in Britain is the seven-spot ladybird. This bright red ladybird has seven spots and is thought to have inspired the name ladybird: “Lady” referring to the Virgin Mary (Our lady) who in early paintings is seen wearing a red cloak; the seven spots are symbolic of the seven joys and seven sorrows of Mary".
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Japanese grass lizard is a wall lizard species of the genus Takydromus. It is found in Japan. Its Japanese name is "kanahebi". " Hebi" means 'snake' in Japanese, although this lizard is not a snake. There are three lizards found in the four main islands of Japan. The other two are the Japanese gekko (also, Schlegel's Japanese gekko, Gekko japonicus), and the Japanese five-lined skink (this skink shows five lines only as a juvenile). Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 6,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains.
The adult length of species within the suborder ranges from a few centimeters for chameleons and geckos to nearly 3 m (9.8 ft) in the case of the largest living varanid lizard, the Komodo dragon. Lizard tails are often a different and dramatically more vivid color than the rest of the body so as to encourage potential predators to strike for the tail first. Many lizard species are capable of shedding part of their tails. This is an example of the pars pro toto principle, sacrificing "a part for the whole", and is employed by lizards to allow them to escape when captured by the tail by a predator. The detached tail writhes and wiggles, creating a deceptive sense of continued struggle, distracting the predator's attention from the fleeing prey animal. The lizard will partially regenerate its tail over a period of weeks. The new section will contain cartilage rather than bone, and the skin may be distinctly discolored compared to the rest of the body. Numerous species of lizard are kept as pets, including bearded dragons, iguanas, anoles, and geckos. Some lizards have an affinity for humans, but many are suspicious or skittish around them. Lizards that bite humans are very rare. Lizards are predominantly insectivorous, but some eat fruit, or vegetables. Green iguanas are eaten in Central America, where they are sometimes referred to as "chicken of the tree" after their habit of resting in trees and their supposed chicken-like taste, and spiny-tailed lizards are eaten in Africa. In North Africa, Uromastyx species are considered dhaab or "fish of the desert". Lizard symbolism plays important, though rarely predominant, roles in some cultures. The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped animals and often depicted lizards in their art. The lizard has different meanings in different cultures, but in Roman mythology, it was thought to represent death and resurrection, since it hibernated throughout the winter and reawakened in spring. For Greek and Egyptian cultures, the lizard represented divine wisdom and good fortune. The Egyptian hieroglyphics symbol that resembles a lizard means "plentiful" or "many." In the Mediterranean area, many cultures see the lizard as an old family friend. Hinduism recognizes different symbolic meaning for lizards and considers their chirping to be holy and auspicious. In the Bible lizard is mentioned among unclean animals: "These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind, And the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole." In " Macbeth" | Act 4, Scene 1 by William Shakespeare the Three Witches are using among other animal parts lizard's leg to boil their broth.
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The Japanese macaque ( Macaca fuscata), also known as the snow monkey, is a terrestrial Old World monkey species that is native to Japan. They get their name "snow monkey" because they live in areas where snow covers the ground for months each year no other nonhuman primate is more northern-living, nor lives in a colder climate. Japanese macaques at Jigokudani hotspring in Nagano have become notable for their winter visits to the spa. Individuals have brown-grey fur, red faces, and short tails. Two subspecies are known. In Japan, the species is known as Nihonzaru (Nihon "Japan" + saru "monkey") to distinguish it from other primates, but the Japanese macaque is very familiar in Japan, so when Japanese people simply say saru, they usually have in mind the Japanese macaque. The snow monkey has featured prominently in the religion, folklore, and art of Japan, as well as in proverbs and idiomatic expressions in the Japanese language. Monkeys are haplorhine ("dry-nosed") primates, a group generally possessing tails and consisting of about 260 known living species. There are two distinct lineages of monkeys: New World Monkeys and catarrhines. Apes emerged within the catarrhines with the Old World monkeys as a sister group, so cladistically they are monkeys as well. However, traditionally apes are not considered monkeys, rendering this grouping paraphyletic. The equivalent monophyletic clade are the simians. Many monkey species are tree-dwelling, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Most species are also active during the day. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent, particularly Old World monkeys. There are two major types of monkey: New World monkeys (platyrrhines) from South and Central America and Old World monkeys from Africa and Asia. Hominoid apes (gibbons, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans), which all lack tails, are also catarrhines but are not considered monkeys. (Tailless monkeys may be called "apes", incorrectly according to modern usage; thus the tailless Barbary macaque is sometimes called the "Barbary ape".) Simians ("monkeys") and tarsiers emerged within haplorrhines some 60 million years ago. New World monkeys and catarrhine monkeys emerged within the simians some 35 millions years ago. Old World monkeys and Hominoidea emerged within the catarrhine monkeys some 25 millions years ago. Extinct basal simians such as Aegyptopithecus or Parapithecus [35-32 million years ago] were also considered monkeys by primatologists. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word "monkey" may originate in a German version of the Reynard the Fox fable, published circa 1580. In this version of the fable, a character named Moneke is the son of Martin the Ape. In English, there is not very clear distinction originally made between "ape" and "monkey"; thus the 1910 Encyclopedia Britannica entry for "ape" notes that it is either a synonym for "monkey" or is used to mean a tailless humanlike primate. Colloquially, the terms "monkey" and "ape" are widely used interchangeably. Also, a few monkey species have the word "ape" in their common name, such as the Barbary ape. Later in the first half of the 20th century, the idea developed that there were trends in primate evolution and that the living members of the order could be arranged in a series, leading through "monkeys" and "apes" to humans. Monkeys thus constituted a "grade" on the path to humans and were distinguished from "apes". The many species of monkey have varied relationships with humans. Some are kept as pets, others used as model organisms in laboratories or in space missions. They may be killed in monkey drives (when they threaten agriculture) or used as service animals for the disabled. In religion and culture, the monkey often represents quick-wittedness and mischief. Sun Wukong (the "Monkey King"), a character who figures prominently in Chinese mythology, is the protagonist in the classic comic Chinese novel Journey to the West. Informally, the term "monkey" is often used more broadly than in scientific use and may be used to refer to apes, particularly chimpanzees, gibbons, and gorillas. Author Terry Pratchett alludes to this difference in usage in his Discworld novels, in which the Librarian of the Unseen University is an orangutan who gets very violent if referred to as a monkey. Another example is the use of Simians in Chinese poetry. The winged monkeys are prominent characters in The Wizard of Oz. Hanuman, a prominent divine entity in Hinduism, is a human-like monkey god. He bestows courage, strength and longevity to the person who thinks about him or the god Rama. In Buddhism, the monkey is an early incarnation of Buddha but may also represent trickery and ugliness. The Chinese Buddhist "mind monkey" metaphor refers to the unsettled, restless state of human mind. Monkey is also one of the Three Senseless Creatures, symbolizing greed, with the tiger representing anger and the deer lovesickness. The Sanzaru, or three wise monkeys, are revered in Japanese folklore, together they embody the proverbial principle to "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped nature. The Tzeltal people of Mexico worshipped monkeys as incarnations of their dead ancestors. The Monkey is the ninth in the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. Masuo Basho was born in 1644 - the Year of the Wooden Monkey. In Shinto belief, mythical beasts known as raiju sometimes appeared as monkeys and kept Raijin, the god of lightning, company. The "three wise monkeys", which warn people to "see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil", are carved in relief over the door of the famous Tosho-gu shrine in Nikko. The Japanese macaque is a feature of several fairy tales, such as the tale of Momotaro and the fable about the The Crab and the Monkey. As the monkey is part of the Chinese zodiac, which has been used for centuries in Japan, the creature was sometimes portrayed in paintings of the Edo Period as a tangible metaphor for a particular year. The 19th-century artist and samurai Watanabe Kazan created a painting of a macaque. During the Edo Period, numerous clasps for kimono or tobacco pouches (collectively called netsuke) were carved in the shape of macaques. Spoken references to macaques abound in the history of Japan. Before his rise to power, the famed samurai Toyotomi Hideyoshi was compared to a monkey in appearance and nicknamed Kozaru ("Little Monkey") by his lord and master, Oda Nobunaga. This was a humorous jibe at first, but was later used pejoratively by Hideyoshi's rivals. In modern Japanese culture, because monkeys are considered to indulge their libido openly and frequently (much the same way as rabbits are thought to in some Western cultures), a man who is preoccupied with sex might be compared to or metaphorically referred to as a monkey, as might a romantically involved couple who are exceptionally amorous. In Folk-lore of Shakespeare, by T.F. Thiselton Dyer one can read: "In addition to Shakespeare's mention of ape as a common term of contempt, there are several other allusions to it. There is the well known phrase, "to lead apes in hell," applied to old maids mentioned in the "Taming of the Shrew". In " Henry IV.", it is used as a term of endearment — "Oh, you sweet little rogue, you! Oh my, you poor ape, you’re sweating! Come, let me wipe your face". The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare.
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A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (Ancient Greek an-, without + oura, tail). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" appeared in the early Triassic of Madagascar, but molecular clock dating suggests their origins may extend further back to the Permian, 265 million years ago. Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforests. There are approximately 4,800 recorded species, accounting for over 85% of extant amphibian species. They are also one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders.
Frogs typically lay their eggs in water. The eggs hatch into aquatic larvae called tadpoles that have tails and internal gills. They have highly specialized rasping mouth parts suitable for herbivorous, omnivorous or planktivorous diets. The life cycle is completed when they metamorphose into adults. The use of the common names "frog" and "toad" has no taxonomic justification. From a classification perspective, all members of the order Anura are frogs, but only members of the family Bufonidae are considered "true toads". The use of the term "frog" in common names usually refers to species that are aquatic or semi-aquatic and have smooth, moist skins; the term "toad" generally refers to species that are terrestrial with dry, warty skins. There are numerous exceptions to this rule. The name frog derives from Old English frogga, abbreviated to frox, forsc, and frosc, probably deriving from Proto-Indo-European preu = "to jump". Frogs are generally recognized as exceptional jumpers and, relative to their size, the best jumpers of all vertebrates. The striped rocket frog, Litoria nasuta, can leap over 2 metres (6 ft 7 in), a distance that is more than fifty times its body length of 5.5 centimetres (2.2 in). Frogs are valued as food by humans and also have many cultural roles in literature, symbolism and religion. Frogs feature prominently in folklore, fairy tales, and popular culture. They tend to be portrayed as benign, ugly, and clumsy, but with hidden talents. Examples include "The Frog Prince", and Kermit the Frog. "The Frog Prince" is a fairy tale about a frog that turns into a handsome prince after he has rescued a princess's golden ball and she has taken him into her palace. Kermit the Frog is a conscientious and disciplined character from The Muppet Show and Sesame Street; while openly friendly and greatly talented, he is often portrayed as cringing at the fanciful behavior of more flamboyant characters. Toads have a more sinister reputation. It was believed in European folklore that they were associated with witches as their familiar spirits and had magical powers. The toxic secretions from their skin was used in brewing evil potions, but was also put to use to create magical cures for human and livestock ailments. They were associated with the devil; in John Milton's Paradise Lost, Satan was depicted as a toad pouring poison into Eve's ear. Frogs for in Japan, as in China, are auspicious creatures, bringing rain, fertility and good fortune on account of the abundant number of eggs produced by a frog (about 1500). The frog is regarded as the god of rainfall associated with the tsuyu rainy season and with good harvests in Japan. In China, the three-legged toad was a traditional pet of the God of the Wealth Frog, and frog statues with a gold coin in the mouth, are commonly to be found. This is the Three-legged Toad-who-lives-in-the-moon. Its digits stand for the three lunar phases. Some see the 3 as representing the relation of heaven, earth and the opportunity for prosperity. Like the Hare-in-the-Moon, it is a custodian of the elixir of immortality. During a lunar eclipse, it is said that she/he swallows the moon. Frogs for the Japanese, are ascribed magical powers, and are popular lucky amulets, because the word for frog in Japanese " kaeru" sounds like kaeru" meaning "return", therefore implying many happy returns (of money and fortune), a safe return journey, etc. The website "Symbology" explains it thus: " Twenty-seven species of frog are found in Japan. Due to an agricultural economy based on the flooded rice paddy, the presence of frogs is considered to bring good fortune. Additionally, the frog has become a creature much beloved in poetry and art. Ceramic frogs are often sold at shrines as the Japanese word for "frog" is the same as " to return". Finally, the frog or rather the toad, in Japan, shares the same association with the moon as found across several cultures, such as India, Nepal and China. " Eye of newt and toe of frog ... " ( the archetypal recipe for spells and enchantments) is the well-known incantation of the Three Witches in Shakespeare's "Macbeth".
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The domestic cat (Latin: Felis catus) is a small, typically furry, carnivorous mammal. They are often called house cats when kept as indoor pets or simply cats when there is no need to distinguish them from other felids and felines. Cats are often valued by humans for companionship and for their ability to hunt vermin. There are more than 70 cat breeds; different associations proclaim different numbers according to their standards. Since cats were venerated in ancient Egypt, they were commonly believed to have been domesticated there, but there may have been instances of domestication as early as the Neolithic from around 9,500 years ago (7,500 BC). A genetic study in 2007 concluded that domestic cats are descended from Near Eastern wildcats, having diverged around 8,000 BC in West Asia. A 2016 study found that leopard cats were undergoing domestication independently in China around 5,500 BC, though this line of partially domesticated cats leaves no trace in the domesticated populations of today. As of a 2007 study, cats are the second most popular pet in the US by number of pets owned, behind freshwater fish. Traditionally, historians tended to think ancient Egypt was the site of cat domestication, owing to the clear depictions of house cats in Egyptian paintings about 3,600 years old. However, in 2004, a Neolithic grave excavated in Shillourokambos, Cyprus, contained the skeletons, laid close to one another, of both a human and a cat. The grave is estimated to be 9,500 years old, pushing back the earliest known feline-human association significantly. The cat specimen is large and closely resembles the African wildcat, rather than present-day domestic cats. This discovery, combined with genetic studies, suggests cats were probably domesticated in the Middle East, in the Fertile Crescent around the time of the development of agriculture, and then were brought to Cyprus and Egypt. Direct evidence for the domestication of cats 5,300 years ago in Quanhucun, China has been published by archaeologists and paleontologists from the University of Washington and Chinese Academy of Sciences. The cats are believed to have been attracted to the village by rodents, which in turn were attracted by grain cultivated and stored by humans. In ancient Egypt, cats were sacred animals, with the goddess Bastet often depicted in cat form, sometimes taking on the war-like aspect of a lioness. The Romans are often credited with introducing the domestic cat from Egypt to Europe. In Roman Aquitaine, a first- or second-century engraving of a young girl holding a cat is one of two earliest depictions of the Roman domesticated cat. However, cats possibly were already kept in Europe prior to the Roman Empire, as they may have been present in Britain in the late Iron Age. Domestic cats were spread throughout much of the rest of the world during the Age of Discovery, as they were carried on sailing ships to control shipboard rodents and as good-luck charms.Several ancient religions believed cats are exalted souls, companions or guides for humans, that are all-knowing but mute so they cannot influence decisions made by humans. Freyja, the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility in Norse mythology, is depicted as riding a chariot drawn by cats. Many cultures have negative superstitions about cats. An example would be the belief that a black cat "crossing one's path" leads to bad luck, or that cats are witches' familiars used to augment a witch's powers and skills. The killing of cats in Medieval Ypres, Belgium, is commemorated in the innocuous present-day Kattenstoet (cat parade). According to a myth in many cultures, cats have multiple lives. In many countries, they are believed to have nine lives, but in Italy, Germany, Greece, Brazil and some Spanish-speaking regions, they are said to have seven lives, while in Turkish and Arabic traditions, the number of lives is six. The myth is attributed to the natural suppleness and swiftness cats exhibit to escape life-threatening situations. Also lending credence to this myth is the fact that falling cats often land on their feet, using an instinctive righting reflex to twist their bodies around. Japanese people have had a long relationship with cats. More than 1000 years ago, people in the upper class were already living with cats. Common people also started having pet cats at home several hundred years ago and Japanese people have been involved with cats in a variety of ways since then. There are shrines that worship cats as gods across Japan and cats have also played a part in folk beliefs through the ages. The extent to which Japanese people have been involved with cats is evident from the volume of artworks that depict cats as the main subject. In the Edo period (1603-1868), Ukiyoe virtuosos Hiroshige Utagawa and Kuniyoshi Utagawa painted cats, and in the Meiji period (1868-1912), the great novelist Soseki Natsume wrote the novel "I Am a Cat", which became a famous masterpiece of Japanese literature. Cats have been loved by Japanese people through the ages. Tashirojima Island in Ishinomaki City located east of Sendai City is known as the Cat Island. Cats come to welcome the boats at the port. Many cats wait patiently around the fishing port for fishermen to return. Neko-jinja or the cat shrine is located in the central area of the island and it enshrines a " cat god " in hope of a good catch and safety of the fishermen. Cats have been worshiped as gods for several hundred years when people began forecasting the outcome of fishing based on cats behavior. Tashirojima Island was damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in 2011, but many of the cats survived, evacuating to the area around Neko-jinja. In Japan, the maneki neko cat is a symbol of good fortune. The maneki-neko (Japanese: literally "beckoning cat") is a common Japanese figurine (lucky charm, talisman) which is often believed to bring good luck to the owner. The maneki-neko is sometimes also called the welcoming cat, lucky cat, money cat, happy cat, beckoning cat, or fortune cat in English.
Cats, from their great powers of resistance, are said to have nine lives, which prompts Mercutio in "Romeo and Juliet" to proclaim: "Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives." Moody even "bitchy" and selfish cats are often compared to women. In Shakespeare's " Hamlet " the main protagonist is not sure if he is in love with Ophelia. Maybe he does love her. Even though he treats her horribly, he may be reacting to his hatred of what he sees his mother doing, which he makes a symbol of the weakness of all women. His mother is so morally and psychologically weak that she must immediately attach herself to the first available man after King Hamlet's death. "Frailty, thy name is woman," Hamlet says. Another famous quote by William Shakespeare attributed to cats goes like this : " Do not be like the cat who wanted a fish but was afraid to get his paws wet ". And one more line, "The cat will mew " appears in the same play, coming at the very end of Act 5, Scene 1. In other words, Hamlet will surely (the cat will mew — what else would it do?) have things going his way.
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The swallows and martins are a group of passerine birds in the family Hirundinidae that are characterised by their adaptation to aerial feeding. Swallow is used colloquially in Europe as a synonym for the barn swallow.
Within the Old World, the name "martin" tends to be used for the squarer-tailed species, and the name "swallow" for the more fork-tailed species; however, there is no scientific distinction between these two groups. Within the New World, "martin" is reserved for members of the genus Progne. The swallows have a cosmopolitan distribution across the world and breed on all the continents except Antarctica. It is believed that this family originated in Africa as hole-nesters; Africa still has the greatest diversity of the species. They also occur on a number of oceanic islands. A number of European and North American species are long-distance migrants; by contrast, the West and South African swallows are non-migratory. Swallows are tolerated by humans because of their beneficial role as insect-eaters, and some species have readily adapted to nesting in and around human habitation. The barn swallow and house martin now rarely use natural sites. The purple martin is also actively encouraged by people to nest around humans and elaborate nest boxes are erected. Enough artificial nesting sites have been created that the purple martin now seldom nests in natural cavities in the eastern part of its range. Because of the long human experience with these conspicuous species, many myths and legends have arisen as a consequence, particularly relating to the barn swallow. The Roman historian Pliny the Elder described a use of painted swallows to deliver a report of the winning horses at a race. According to a sailing superstition, swallows are a good omen to those at sea. This probably arose from the fact that swallows are land-based birds, so their appearance informs a sailor that he is close to shore. An old term of venery for swallows is a "flight" or "sweep." The swallow is called the "bird of freedom" because it cannot endure captivity and will only mate in the wild. It is also said that if the sailor drowns, the swallows will carry their soul to heaven. The swallow also represents love, care and affection towards family and friends, showing the loyalty of the person always returning to them. The bird also represents freedom and hope. In Japan it is considered good luck to have a barn swallow nesting in your house. Barn swallows breed all over Japan during the summer, arriving in April from their winter stay in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and Micronesia. Swallows construct bowl-shaped nests from mud mixed with saliva and grass, often in caves and under the eaves of barns and houses. Swallows prefer open habitats with lots of room for aerial maneuvers. In "Richard III ", Act 5, Scene 2 William Shakespeare proclaims:" True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings; Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings".
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The gray wolf or grey wolf (Canis lupus), also known as the timber wolf or western wolf is a canid native to the wilderness and remote areas of Eurasia and North America. It is the largest extant member of its family. Its winter fur is long and bushy, and predominantly a mottled gray in color, although nearly pure white, red, or brown to black also occur. The gray wolf is the second most specialised member of the genus Canis, after the Ethiopian wolf, as demonstrated by its morphological adaptations to hunting large prey, its more gregarious nature, and its highly advanced expressive behavior. It is nonetheless closely related enough to smaller Canis species, such as the eastern wolf, coyote, and golden jackal to produce fertile hybrids. It is the only species of Canis to have a range encompassing both the Old and New Worlds, and originated in Eurasia during the Pleistocene, colonizing North America on at least three separate occasions during the Rancholabrean. It is a social animal, travelling in nuclear families consisting of a mated pair, accompanied by the pair's adult offspring. The gray wolf is typically an apex predator throughout its range, with only humans and tigers posing a serious threat to it. It feeds primarily on large ungulates, though it also eats smaller animals, livestock and carrion. The gray wolf is one of the world's best known and well researched animals, with probably more books written about it than any other wildlife species. It has a long history of association with humans, having been despised and hunted in most pastoral communities because of its attacks on livestock, while conversely being respected in some agrarian and hunter-gatherer societies. Although the fear of wolves is pervasive in many human societies, the majority of recorded attacks on people have been attributed to animals suffering from rabies. Non-rabid wolves have attacked and killed people, mainly children, but this is rare, as wolves are relatively few, live away from people, and have developed a fear of humans from hunters and shepherds.Gray wolves howl to assemble the pack (usually before and after hunts), to pass on an alarm (particularly at a den site), to locate each other during a storm or unfamiliar territory and to communicate across great distances. Wolf howls can under certain conditions be heard over areas of up to 130 km2 (50 sq mi). Wolves in Japan became extinct during the Meiji restoration period, an extermination known as okami no kujo. The wolf was deemed a threat to ranching, which the Meiji government promoted at the time, and targeted via a bounty system and a direct chemical extermination campaign inspired by the similar contemporary American campaign. The last Japanese wolf was a male killed on January 23, 1905 near Washikaguchi (now called Higashi Yoshiro). The now extinct Japanese wolves were descended from large Siberian wolves, which colonized the Korean Peninsula and Japan, before it separated from mainland Asia, 20,000 years ago during the Pleistocene. During the Holocene, the Tsugaru Strait widened and isolated Honshu from Hokkaido, thus causing climatic changes leading to the extinction of most large bodied ungulates inhabiting the archipelago. Japanese wolves likely underwent a process of island dwarfism 7,000–13,000 years ago in response to these climatological and ecological pressures. C. l. hattai (formerly native to Hokkaido) was significantly larger than its southern cousin C. l. hodophilax, as it inhabited higher elevations and had access to larger prey, as well as a continuing genetic interaction with dispersing wolves from Siberia. Old English literature contains several instances of Anglo-Saxon kings and warriors taking on wulf as a prefix or suffix in their names. Examples include Wulfhere, Cynewulf, Ceonwulf, Wulfheard, Earnwulf and Ethelwulf. The wolf is a common motif in the foundational mythologies and cosmologies of peoples throughout Eurasia and North America. The obvious attribute of the wolf is its nature of a predator, and correspondingly it is strongly associated with danger and destruction, making it the symbol of the warrior on one hand, and that of the devil on the other. The modern trope of the Big Bad Wolf is a development of this. The wolf holds great importance in the cultures and religions of the nomadic peoples, both of the Eurasian steppe and of the North American Plains. In many cultures, the identification of the warrior with the wolf (totemism) gave rise to the notion of Lycanthropy, the mythical or ritual identification of man and wolf. Aesop featured wolves in several of his fables, playing on the concerns of Ancient Greece's settled, sheep-herding world. His most famous is the fable of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, which is directed at those who knowingly raise false alarms, and from which the idiomatic phrase "to cry wolf" is derived. Some of his other fables concentrate on maintaining the trust between shepherds and guard dogs in their vigilance against wolves, as well as anxieties over the close relationship between wolves and dogs. Although Aesop used wolves to warn, criticize and moralize about human behavior, his portrayals added to the wolf's image as a deceitful and dangerous animal. Isengrim the wolf, a character first appearing in the 12th-century Latin poem Ysengrimus, is a major character in the Reynard Cycle, where he stands for the low nobility, whilst his adversary, Reynard the fox, represents the peasant hero. Although portrayed as loyal, honest and moral, Isengrim is forever the victim of Reynard's wit and cruelty, often dying at the end of each story. The tale of Little Red Riding Hood, first written in 1697 by Charles Perrault, is largely considered to have had more influence than any other source of literature in forging the wolf's negative reputation in the western world. The wolf in this story is portrayed as a potential rapist, capable of imitating human speech. In the Shinto belief, the okami (wolf) is regarded as a messenger of the kami spirits and also offers protection against crop raiders such as the wild boar and deer. Wild animals were associated with the mountain spirit Yama-no-kami. The mountains of Japan, seen as a dangerous, deadly place, were highly associated with the wolf, which was believed to be their protector and guardian. Many mountain villages, such as Okami’iwa (Wolf Rock) and Okamitaira (Wolf Plateau), are named after the wolf; this could be due to a sighting at the location, or a simple homage to the species. There are an estimated 20 Shinto wolf shrines on Honshu alone. The most famous national shrine is located at Mitsumine in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture and there are a number of smaller wolf shrines on the Kii Peninsula, including the Tamaki Shrine and the Katakati Shrine at Totsukawa village. In Japanese folklore, there is the widely-recorded belief of the okuriokami (escort wolf) that followed someone walking alone through a forest at night until they reach their home without doing them any harm. An offering was sometimes made for this escort. Another belief was of wolves that raised an infant who had been abandoned in the forests of the Kii Peninsula, and later became the clan leader Fujiwara no Hidehira. Another belief from the Kanto area of eastern Japan was that feeding an infant wolf's milk would make them grow up strong. Some legends portray the Japanese wolf as being prophetic creatures. In the Tamaki Mountains the location of a tree called “the cypress of dog-howls” is said to be the site where wolves howled immediately before a flood in 1889 warning the villagers, and before the great earthquake of 1923 even though the wolf was extinct by that time. Another belief was the "wolf notification" where a traveller does not return home, then a wolf comes to their home and makes a sad howling that signalled their death. Some villages had wolf charms called shishiyoke that were believed to protect their village and their crops against wild boar. Wolf fangs, hide, and hair were carried by travelers to ward of evil spirits, and wolf skulls were kept in some home shrines to ward off misfortune. In some villages such as in Gifu prefecture, the skull of the wolf was used as the charm for both protection as well as curing possessed villagers. In addition to protecting the crops, the wolf may leave prey for villagers. The Japanese wolf memorial stands by the banks of the Takami River in Higashiyoshino, Nara and is a replica of the last wolf killed by hunters nearby in 1905. Inscribed is the haiku: I walk/ With that wolf/ That is no more.
In "King Lear" by William Shakespeare (III, vi, 19-21) the Fool states: "He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf ... "
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Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs and acting as a shield. "Turtle" may refer to the order as a whole (American English) or to fresh-water and sea-dwelling testudines (British English). The order Testudines includes both extant (living) and extinct species. The earliest known members of this group date from 157 million years ago, making turtles one of the oldest reptile groups and a more ancient group than snakes or crocodilians. Of the 327 known species alive today, some are highly endangered. Turtles are classified as amniotes, along with other reptiles, birds, and mammals. Like other amniotes, turtles breathe air and do not lay eggs underwater, although many species live in or around water. The word chelonian is popular among veterinarians, scientists, and conservationists working with these animals as a catch-all name for any member of the superorder Chelonia, which includes all turtles living and extinct, as well as their immediate ancestors. Chelonia is based on the Greek word chelone "tortoise", "turtle" (another relevant word is chelys "tortoise"), also denoting armor or interlocking shields; testudines on the other hand, is based on the Latin word testudo "tortoise". "Turtle" may either refer to the order as a whole, or to particular turtles that make up a form taxon that is not monophyletic. The meaning of the word turtle differs from region to region. In North America, all chelonians are commonly called turtles, including terrapins and tortoises.] In Great Britain, the word turtle is used for sea-dwelling species, but not for tortoises. The term tortoise usually refers to any land-dwelling, non-swimming chelonian. Most land-dwelling chelonians are in the Testudinidae family, only one of the 14 extant turtle families. Terrapin is used to describe several species of small, edible, hard-shell turtles, typically those found in brackish waters, and is an Algonquian word for turtle. Turtles are frequently depicted in popular culture as easygoing, patient, and wise creatures. Due to their long lifespan, slow movement, sturdiness, and wrinkled appearance, they are an emblem of longevity and stability in many cultures around the world. Turtles are regularly incorporated into human culture, with painters, photographers, poets, songwriters, and sculptors using them as subjects. They have an important role in mythologies around the world, and are often implicated in creation myths regarding the origin of the Earth. Sea turtles are a charismatic megafauna and are used as symbols of the marine environment and environmentalism. As a result of its role as a slow, peaceful creature in culture, the turtle can be misconceived as a sedentary animal; however, many types of turtle, especially sea turtles, frequently migrate over large distances in oceans. The tortoise is a symbol of wisdom and knowledge, and is able to defend itself on its own. It personifies water, the moon, the Earth, time, immortality, and fertility. Creation is associated with the tortoise and it is also believed that the tortoise bears the burden of the whole world. The turtle has a prominent position as a symbol of steadfastness and tranquility in religion, mythology, and folklore from around the world. A tortoise's longevity is suggested by its long lifespan and its shell, which was thought to protect it from any foe. In the cosmological myths of several cultures a World Turtle carries the world upon its back or supports the heavens. The mytheme of a World Tortoise, along with that of a world-bearing elephant, was discussed comparatively by Edward Burnett Tylor. For alchemists, the tortoise symbolizes chaos, or massa confusa.
Japanese culture adopted from China the myth of four Guardian Beasts, said in Japan to protect the city of Heian (Kyoto) from threats arising from each of the four cardinal directions. The Black Tortoise or Gen-bu, sometimes depicted as a combination of a tortoise and a snake, protects Kyoto from the north; the other beasts and associated directions are the Azure Dragon (Sei-ryu, east), the Vermilion Bird (Su-zaku, south), and the White Tiger (Byak-ko, west).
In Japan, however, the turtle has developed a more independent tradition than the other three prominent beasts of China. The minogame, which is so old it has a train of seaweed growing on its back, is a symbol of longevity and felicity. A minogame has an important role in the well-known legend of Urashima Taro. According to traditional Japanese beliefs, the tortoise is a haven for immortals and the world mountain, and symbolizes longevity, good luck, and support. It is the symbol of Kumpira, the god of seafaring people. The tortoise is a favored motif by netsuke-carvers and other artisans, and is featured in traditional Japanese wedding ceremonies. "The Phoenix and the Turtle" is an allegorical poem about the death of ideal love by William Shakespeare. It is widely considered to be one of his most ambivalent poems and has led to many conflicting interpretations. The title "The Phoenix and the Turtle" is a conventional label. As published, the poem was untitled. The "turtle" is the Turtledove (Old World dove of the genus Streptopelia, which symbolizes a gentle and true loving person ) not the shelled reptile. The poem describes a funeral arranged for the deceased lovers Phoenix and Turtledove. It goes on to state that the love of the birds created a perfect unity which transcended all logic and material fact.
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Crickets are insects that are part of the Gryllidae family (“true crickets”) and belong to the order Orthoptera. They are related to bush crickets and somewhat more loosely related to grasshoppers. Gryllidae, or true crickets, have powerful hind legs, two pairs of wings, flattened bodies and antennae that can be as long or longer than their body. Crickets diverged from other Orthopterans (like katydids and grasshoppers) in the Triassic period about 250–200 million years ago. Cricket is derived from “creket” in Middle English which was originally came from “crequet” in Old French. It’s thought to be onomatopoeic, which means that the name resembles the sound my by these animals. A group of crickets is called an orchestra. There are trillions of crickets that exist at any one time in the world. Crickets are nocturnal, meaning they sleep during the day and are most active during the night. Crickets mate beginning in late spring and ending in early fall. The male perform a mating dance that can last from a few minutes to hours long and performs a unique mating chrip. Interestingly, the female cricket mounts the male cricket to receive the a sperm packet and may mate with several males before deciding which sperm from which male to accept. Unlike ants or bees, crickets tend to live mostly solitary lives and, in fact, will fight one another when in close quarters. The primary natural predators of the cricket are lizards, frogs, salamanders, spiders and tortoises. Increasingly, humans are also consuming crickets as they provide a nutritious and sustainable food source. In many Crickets communicate by chirping and the chirps are species specific. Crickets use chirping to attract females or repel other males. The scientific name for cricket chirping is called “stridulation.” Crickets make this chirping sound by rubbing their wings together. One wing has a set of 50 to 300 “teeth” (like a comb) which is then rubbed against the upper hind edge of the other wing to produce the sound. Male crickets will defend their mates, even risking their own lives to protect a female carrying his eggs. The singing species have good hearing, via the tympani (eardrums) on the tibiae of the front legs. Crickets have played a strong role throughout Chinese, Japanese and Native American cultures as a symbol of good fortune, vitality and prosperity. As far back as 500 B.C., people revered the song of the cricket and often kept crickets in cages to enjoy that song on a regular basis. In addition, crickets are valued as watch dogs and as natural clocks for timing a good harvest.
Throughout Chinese history, crickets have symbolized wisdom and prosperity to the extent that a 2,000-year period of history is known as the Cricket Culture. Within this time frame, three specific eras celebrated various aspects of the cricket. In the first era, which lasted from 500 B.C. to 618 A.D., the singing of crickets was revered. During the Tang Dynasty, from 618 to 906 A.D., people began to keep crickets in cages in order to appreciate the sounds. Between 960 and 1278 A.D., cricket fighting became a popular pastime. Ancient Chinese literature is filled with songs and sayings about crickets and other insects.
Crickets lay hundreds of eggs. Their fertility coincides with the traditional Chinese belief that having many children is a symbol of vitality and a requirement for financial success. In ancient times, farmers began preparing fields for spring harvest only after listening to the song of a cricket.
From nobleman and famous artists to peasant farmers and Buddhist monks, people throughout history have kept caged crickets to enjoy their song. For generations throughout Chinese and Japanese history, crickets have been considered great protection because they stop singing when anyone or anything approaches. Middle Eastern and European craftsman commonly carved amulets and charms bearing images of crickets to fend off evil spirits. American colonial builders added a copper cricket to the weather vane on Boston’s Fanuel Hall as a symbol of protection. John Lennon and Paul McCartney inspired by Buddy Holly's insect-themed "Crickets ", chose to name their band "The Beatles".
In William Shakespeare's " Merchant of Venice" there is a line: "The crickets sing, and man's o'er-labour'd sense repairs itself by rest... "
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A mouse (plural: mice) is a small rodent characteristically having a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (Mus musculus). It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are locally common. They are known to invade homes for food and shelter. Domestic mice sold as pets often differ substantially in size from the common house mouse. This is attributable both to breeding and to different conditions in the wild. The most well known strain, the white lab mouse, has more uniform traits that are appropriate to its use in research. The American white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) and the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), as well as other common species of mouse-like rodents around the world, also sometimes live in houses. These, however, are in other genera. Cats, wild dogs, foxes, birds of prey, snakes and even certain kinds of arthropods have been known to prey heavily upon mice. Nevertheless, because of its remarkable adaptability to almost any environment, the mouse is one of the most successful mammalian genera living on Earth today. Mice can at times be vermin, damaging and eating crops, causing structural damage and spreading diseases through their parasites and feces. Primarily nocturnal animals, mice compensate for their poor eyesight with a keen sense of hearing, and rely especially on their sense of smell to locate food and avoid predators. Mice build intricate burrows in the wild. These burrows typically have long entrances and are equipped with escape tunnels or routes. In at least one species, the architectural design of a burrow is a genetic trait. "To be poor as a church mouse" means to be poverty stricken or very poor. This saying was originally said to be hungry as a church mouse. Churches in the 1600’s had no kitchens to cook meals and no storage or pantries to store food. A mouse that was so unlucky to take up residence in a church would find no food there. The luck mice would find a place to live in the cellar of a house or a grocery store, not a church. As time went on, the saying was changed from hungry to poor. The Japanese word for "mouse" is "nezumi, mausu, hatsukanezumi". Mice love to burrow. Our ancient ancestors observed their affinity for ground-burrowing, and likened this to mice being 'one with the Mother' (Mother Earth, that is). This ground-loving behavior was also seen as a connection to the Underworlds (or Otherworlds, depending upon your source of reference). This kind of connection makes the mouse a kind of mediator between physical life and recycling life (spirit energies in transition). This Earth and Underworld connection continues in western, medieval Europe, where folk superstitions tell of mice possessing the ability to carry souls of humans who have passed from this physical life. Some tales take this soul-carrying a step further and describe mice eking out from the mouths of the deceased, scampering away with the living soul, leaving behind the corporeal remains. I think this last observation might be a reference to the plague, in which rats and mice ruled more prominently that kings and queens of the day (vermin being the number one enemy of the times due to their tendency to carry and spread the deadly plague). Under the pall of the plague, symbolic mouse meaning has taken on some rather dark tones. Christian symbology identifies the mouse as a creature of destruction, hypocrisy and cowardliness. In William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" Francisco says to Bernardo " Not a mouse stirring ", which a simple yet important line if we accept that it foreshadows Hamlet's "Mouse-trap", through which Claudius's guilt will be established.
The word " mouse" was formerly used as a term of endearment, from either sex to the other. In this sense it is used by Rosaline in "Love's Labour's Lost" —
"What's your dark meaning, mouse, of this light word".
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The chickadees are a group of North American birds in the tit family included in the genus Poecile. Species found in North America are referred as chickadees, while other species in the genus are called tits. They are small-sized birds overall, usually having the crown of the head and throat patch distinctly darker than the body. They are at least 6 to 14 centimeters in size.
Their name reputedly comes from the fact that their calls make a distinctive "chick-a-dee-dee-dee" sound. The tits, chickadees, and titmice constitute Paridae, a large family of small passerine birds which occur in the northern hemisphere and Africa. Most were formerly classified in the genus Parus. Japanese Tit ( Parus minor or often included in P. major) also known as Oriental Tit, is a passerine bird which replaces the similar Great Tit in Japan and the Russian Far East beyond the Amur River, including the Kuril Islands. Until recently, this species was classified as a subspecies of Great Tit, but Russian studies have indicated that the two species coexist in the Russian Far East without intermingling or frequent hybridization. The great tit is a popular garden bird due to its acrobatic performances when feeding on nuts or seed. Its willingness to move into nest boxes has made it a valuable study subject in ornithology; it has been particularly useful as a model for the study of the evolution of various life-history traits, particularly clutch size.
The chickadee belongs to the titmouse family in the avian world – “tit” meaning “small” and “mouse” meaning “dulled in color”. They are highly adaptable little creatures that spend their lives happily perusing the woodlands and symbolize the happiness and fulfillment we can get from connecting to our natural surroundings. Chickadees as animal totems are symbolized as cheerful and truthful beings who teach us the art of flexibility and curiosity regardless of size. Although their voices may be small, they have ideas that can make big, positive changes. For us, this serves as a reminder that there are “no small parts, only small actors” when it comes to life. Like the joyful little chickadee, we must be able to voice our impressions, opinions, and emotions to get others to notice us and inspire change. Additionally, this woodland bird is involved with several other symbolic realms of our lives, including protection, defense, bravery, personal identity, and adjustment. The chickadee spiritual guide is amazing with adjusting and adapting to its environment. Even in the coldest of conditions, it is able to lower its body temperature in order to survive. For us, this ability serves as a reminder that we, too, must be able to adapt to our circumstances, no matter what the conditions may be. Along with adaptability, the little chickadee animal totem possesses a bravery that one would not immediately assume it is capable of. It seems that they are either unaware of or aren’t bothered by the fact that they are so small and thus vulnerable. In fact, they have been been observed landing in the palm of a human hand. The proximity to others, including potential threats, that they are apparently comfortable with is an intriguing symbol for humans, teaching us to not be so closed off and paranoid of others. Chickadee symbols encourage us to be a bit more trusting and positive regarding social interactions. Chickadee Associated Traits:
Cheerful, Truthful, Positive, Trusting, Flexible, Curious, Brave, Joyful, Happy, Adaptable, Sociable. A Russian saying : Lutshe siniza v ruke, chem churavl v nebe " ( Better a chickadee in the hand, than a crane in the sky ) has it's English analog: " A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. "
This line about little chickadee was apparently written by William
Shakespeare: "Though she be but little, she is fierce".
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Crane (see also Rock 13)
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Japanese mamushi, is a venomous pit viper species found in China, Japan, and Korea. There are four subspecies including the nominate subspecies described here. This species and the Okinawan habu are the most venomous snakes in Japan. Every year, 2000–3000 people in Japan are bitten by a mamushi. Bitten victims typically require one week of treatment in a hospital. Severe bites require intensive care, and approximately 10 victims die annually. The average length of mature individuals is 45–81 cm (17-31 inches); the longest specimen ever recorded had a length of 91 cm (36 in). The body pattern consists of a pale gray, reddish-brown, or yellow-brown background, overlaid with a series of irregularly-shaped lateral blotches. These blotches are bordered with black and often have lighter centers. The head is dark brown or black, with beige or pale-gray sides.It is typically an ambush predator that uses its excellent camouflage to hide itself in vegetation or leaf litter. It hunts and eats mainly rodents, but also small birds, lizards, and insects. It is often found in and around farmland due to the associated rodent populations. Snake, or Hebi as it is called in the Japanese language is another creature of the vast pantheon of the traditional Japanese symbols. As in many other cultures and mythologies the snake in the Japanese mind have dualistic undertones, being both good and evil. Perhaps Christianity because of its strong association in between the snake and Satan stands out as being the most inflexible regarding this creature. In Japan however, the Hebi is both associated with death and the underworld through the myths surrounding the indigenous naturalistic religion of Shinto, as well as being a creature symbolizing fertility. The goddess Benzaiten, who is the only female member of the Shichi Fukujin (seven lucky gods) often appears with a white snake worn as her headdress. This snake sometimes have a woman’s head and is an image of the Shinto Kami (spirit) of Ugajin who is closely associated with rivers. Snakes are in fact considered as a minor type of Ryu (dragon) and shares many of the mythological traits of that creature. Among them is the element of water, being a symbol of fertility, as well as a strong connection to thunder and lightning. This may have something to do with the shape of a coiling snake resembling stylized lightning bolts, or the fact that some snakes have a lightning like pattern on their backs. Hebi is also an avatar and messenger for the dragon king Ryujin and white snakes are connected to many other Shinto deities besides Ugajin. The great Shinto deity Okuninushi no Mikoto can transform into a great white snake and Shinto priests and practitioners will always try to avoid harming a snake if they come across such an animal in daily life. The very strong belief within Shinto that death itself brings great impurity to anything it touches may also have given rise to the belief that encountering a live snake is considered an extremely lucky omen while a dead one is regarded as the opposite. The fact that snakes shed their skin many times during a lifetime has given rise to the idea that snakes live to become up to a thousand years old and that great life giving medicine can be extracted from the creature if only treated properly. The shedding of skin also means that the Hebi can shape shift and assume any number of other identities. In short, snakes can appear as humans and they in turn can appear as snakes.
Kundalini Yoga is a school of yoga that is influenced by Shaktism and Tantra schools of Hinduism. The Sanskrit adjective kualin means "circular, annular". It does occur as a noun for "a snake" (in the sense "coiled", as in "forming ringlets"). The feminine kualо has the meaning of "ring, bracelet, coil (of a rope)" in Classical Sanskrit it's used as the name of a "serpent-like".
Snakes resemble an umbilical cord or penis which stands for sexuality, fertility and creativity. The snake is seducer of Eve in the Bible which makes it a symbol of temptation and evil. Biting its own tale as Ouroboros ("tail-devouring snake) symbolizes eternity, rebirth and continual renewal of life. The fact that you can get an original and visionary idea as a “positive bite” from the snake stands for creativity. The line from Shakespeare's "Macbeth ":" Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't" is most likely an allusion to arguably the most significant moment in Shakespeare's time, the discovery of the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason Gunpowder Plot
(a Catholic plot to blow up the oppressive Protestant King James I ). To commemorate the discovery of this most heinous crime, King James had a medal created picturing a serpent lurking under flowers. Every person watching Shakespeare's drama in Jacobean England would have understood immediately what the Bard was driving at. To say that Shakespeare would have been just familiar with the conspirators would be a great understatement. These traitors of the realm had some deep connections to Shakespeare and his father John ( a covert Catholic ) who undoubtedly was friend with William Catesby, the father of the head conspirator, Robert Catesby.
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The wild boar (Sus scrofa), also known as the wild swine or Eurasian wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia, North Africa, and the Greater Sunda Islands. Human intervention has spread its range further, making the species one of the widest-ranging mammals in the world, as well as the most widely spread suiform. The animal probably originated in Southeast Asia during the Early Pleistocene, and outcompeted other suid species as it spread throughout the Old World. As of 1990, up to 16 subspecies are recognized, which are divided into four regional groupings based on skull height and lacrimal bone length. The species lives in matriarchal societies consisting of interrelated females and their young (both male and female). Fully grown males are usually solitary outside of the breeding season. The grey wolf is the wild boar's main predator throughout most of its range except in the Far East and the Lesser Sunda Islands, where it is replaced by the tiger and Komodo dragon respectively. It has a long history of association with humans, having been the ancestor of most domestic pig breeds and a big-game animal for millennia.
The wild boar features prominently in the cultures of Indo-European people, many of which saw the animal as embodying warrior virtues. Cultures throughout Europe and Asia Minor saw the killing of a boar as proof of one's valor and strength. Neolithic hunter gatherers depicted reliefs of ferocious wild boars on their temple pillars at Gobekli Tepe some 11,600 years ago. Virtually all heroes in Greek mythology fight or kill a boar at one point. The demigod Herakles' third labor involves the capture of the Erymanthian Boar, Theseus slays the wild sow Phaea, and a disguised Odysseus is recognised by his handmaiden Eurycleia by the scars inflicted on him by a boar during a hunt in his youth. To the mythical Hyperboreans, the boar represented spiritual authority. Several Greek myths use the boar as a symbol of darkness, death and winter. The boar (sanglier) is frequently displayed in English, Scottish and Welsh heraldry. As with the lion, the boar is often shown as armed and langued. As with the bear, Scottish and Welsh heraldry displays the boar's head with the neck cropped, unlike the English version, which retains the neck. The white boar served as the badge of King Richard III of England, who distributed it among his northern retainers during his tenure as Duke of Gloucester.
In Japanese culture, the boar is widely seen as a fearsome and reckless animal, to the point that several words and expressions in Japanese referring to recklessness include references to boars. The boar is the last animal of the oriental zodiac, with people born during the year of the Pig being said to embody the boar-like traits of determination and impetuosity. Among Japanese hunters, the boar's courage and defiance is a source of admiration, and it is not uncommon for hunters and mountain people to name their sons after the animal inoshishi. Boars are also seen as symbols of fertility and prosperity; in some regions, it is thought that boars are drawn to fields owned by families including pregnant women, and hunters with pregnant wives are thought to have greater chances of success when boarhunting. The animal's link to prosperity was illustrated by its inclusion on the 10 yen note during the Meiji period, and it was once believed that a man could become wealthy by keeping a clump of boar hair in his wallet. In the folklore of the Mongol Altai Uriankhai tribe, the wild boar was associated with the watery underworld, as it was thought that the spirits of the dead entered the animal's head, to be ultimately transported to the water. Prior to the conversion to Islam, the Kyrgyz people believed that they were descended from boars, and thus did not eat pork. In Buryat mythology, the forefathers of the Buryats descended from heaven and were nourished by a boar. Shakespeare's various characters refer to Richard as "the boar" throughout the play. Richard's heraldic symbol on his coat of arms is the white boar, which is considered to be a fierce and hideous creature just like Richard. So the reader will be not surprised to learn that Lord Stanley has a dream that a "boar had razed off his helm[et]" - a clear sign that Richard is going to cut off his head. Later, Richmond calls Richard a "foul swine" and refers to him as a destructive boar during his speech at Bosworth field.
In Folk-lore of Shakespeare, by T.F. Thiselton Dyer, [1883] he notes:
"It appears that in former times boar-hunting was a favourite recreation; many allusions to which we find in old writers. Indeed, in the middle ages, the destruction of a wild boar ranked among the deeds of chivalry, and "won for a warrior almost as much renown as the slaying an enemy in the open field". So dangerous too, was boar-hunting considered, that Shakespeare represents Venus as dissuading Adonis from the perilous practice:
"O, be advised! thou know’st not what it is,
With javelin's point a churlish swine to gore,
Whose tushes never sheathed he whetteth still,
Like to a mortal butcher, bent to kill".
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The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest cat species, most recognisable for their pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with a lighter underside. The species is classified in the genus Panthera with the lion, leopard, jaguar and snow leopard. Tigers are apex predators, primarily preying on ungulates such as deer and bovids. They are territorial and generally solitary but social animals, often requiring large contiguous areas of habitat that support their prey requirements. This, coupled with the fact that they are indigenous to some of the more densely populated places on Earth, has caused significant conflicts with humans. Tigers once ranged widely across Asia, from Turkey in the west to the eastern coast of Russia. Tigers are among the most recognisable and popular of the world's charismatic megafauna. They have featured prominently in ancient mythology and folklore, and continue to be depicted in modern films and literature. They appear on many flags, coats of arms, and as mascots for sporting teams. The tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh, India, Malaysia and South Korea. There use to be tigers in Japan long ago. Fossils found in Japan indicate the local tigers were, like the surviving island subspecies, smaller than the mainland forms, an example of insular dwarfism. They are now extinct. Japanese warriors, known as samurai, once invaided Korea with self-conceited ambition to conquer the whole China in the end of 16th century, and they were suprised that there were many tigers in Korean Peninsula, although they totaly weren't in Japanese islands. Famous samurai Kiyomasa Kato is known that he got rid of the tigers in that days. Japanese warriors, known as samurai, once invented Korea with self-conceited ambition to conquer the whole China in the end of 16th century, and they were surprised that there were many tigers in Korean Peninsula, although they totally weren't in Japanese islands. Famous samurai Kiyomasa Kato is known that he got rid of the tigers in that days. One of the reason why the Kato's story became famous is, it means that he was as brave as to fight with many horrible foreign animals never seen in Japan. The Japanese word for tiger, tora, is believed to be of southern Chinese origin, deriving from the word taira. The first appearance of the tiger in Japanese texts is in the Nihon Shoki ( 720, the second oldest Japanese text after the Kojiki). There, we can find the account of Kashiwade no Omihasui, who in the 6th year of the reign of the Emperor Kinmei -545 AD, was sent to the Kingdom of Paekche ( Kudara in Japanese), on the Korean Peninsula, as an ambassador. According to the story, Kashiwade took his wife and child with him. When they arrived on the shores of the peninsula, the sun had set, and in the darkness the child disappeared, grabbed by a tiger. The Japanese ambassador pursued the animal, and eventually slew it with his sword. He later brought the skin back with him to Japan. The tiger also appears in the earliest collection of Japanese poems- the Manyoshu ( 8th Century), where one poet refers to the tiger as The Korean God called the Tiger. This reflects the feeling of respect, fear, and AWE towards tiger, which was carried over to Japan from the continent. The tiger as something to be feared ( even though there were none in Japan) is a feature of many old Japanese stories for children. One, still commonly told today, introduced the phrase "Furuya no mory wa tora o-kami yori mo osoroshii" which means "A leaky roof is more terrible than tigers or wolves", and shows that tigers were a standard for scariness. The first recorded instance of a live, captive tiger being brought to Japan was in the year 840 AD, during the reign of The Emperor Uta . This unfortunate animal was painted by the artist Kose no Kaneoka. It was during this time ( the Heian Period 794-1185), that tiger bone medicine, specially imported from China, helped cure the Emperor during an epidemic. This occurence is still commemorated each November in Osaka during the Shinno Festival, at which papier-mache tigers are given out for free in the hope that they will keep disease away. During Japan`s Period of Civil Wars ( Mid 15th to early 17th Century), there are records of an abundance of tiger skins having been imported from Ming China. When Japanese armies under the command of Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded the Korean Peninsula ( 1592-94), besides all the atrocities committed against the local populations and properties, plenty of leisure time and energy were spent on catching and killing tigers. In fact, Hideyoshi brought a live tiger back to Japan to exhibit to the Emperor in Kyoto and various generals. According to the extant text Shinchomonshu- this tiger was kept in captivity and in Osaka Castle and fed live dogs. Watching the tiger killing the dogs must have provided much amusement for Hideyoshi`s men, but the tiger neede lots of dogs and these were procured form villagers by local headmen. The book recounts the story of how finally, one dog battled the tiger to the death ( both died ). Investigating the incident Hideyoshi found that the particular headman who provided this dog had done so against it masters wishes. Hideyoshi believed that it was the great resentment of the dogs owner, channeled into the dog itself, which gave the pooch the strength to defeat the tiger. Subsequently the dogs former master was compensated while the unscrupulous headman was severely punished. During the Edo Period ( 1600-1868) stuffed and mounted tigers were commonly exhibited, but while the general public became more and more aware of the tigers physical appearance, they lost the sense of awe and fear which had so long been associated with the animal. For the citizens of Edo the tiger was just something that looked cool. It did continue to be a symbol of bravery and dignity and pictures or figures of tigers were believed to invite good fortune. Because the tiger was thought to be especially protective of its young, these lucky tiger goods were used to pray for the health and safety of ones children. For the same reason, the expression "tora no ko" (a tiger cub) came to be used to refer to any highly prized possession. It was also said that the tiger can run 4,000 km and then comes back. That is why he tiger became an important lucky charm for soldiers going off to war. You might also remeber that the signal for "Go ahead" before the attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941 was Tora,Tora,Tora ( tiger, tiger, tiger) which expresses a special desire to return home safely from the mission. Tigers are also thought to be effective in keeping away evil and bad energies. a. The tiger cannot change its stripes, also leopard cannot change its spots it's common expression that no one can change one's essential nature. Shakespeare's contemporary poet, Philip Green, was supposedly referring to him when he wrote : “ There is an upstart crow beautified with our feathers that, with his 'tiger's heart wrapped in a player's hide,' supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you; being an absolute Johannes Factotum, in his conceit the only shake-scene in a country ". The 'tiger's heart wrapped in a player's hide' is a reference to one of Shakespeare's plays, "The Third Part of King Henry VI" , while 'shake-scene' is a pun or play on words on Shakespeare's name. It was an ancient belief that tiger roared and raged most furiously in stormy and high winds — a piece of folklore alluded to in "Troilus and Cressida" , by Nestor, who says:
"The herd hath more annoyance by the breese
Than by the tiger: but when the splitting wind
Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks,
And flies fled under shade, why, then, the thing of courage,
As roused with rage, with rage doth sympathize ".
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Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots, flying squirrels, and prairie dogs amongst other rodents. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa, and were introduced by humans to Australia. The earliest known squirrels date from the Eocene period and are most closely related to the mountain beaver and to the dormouse among other living rodent families. That word "squirrel", first attested in 1327, comes from the Anglo-Norman esquirel which is from the Old French escurel, the reflex of a Latin word sciurus. The Japanese squirrel (Sciurus lis) is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus endemic to Japan. The Japanese squirrel's range includes the islands of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. The squirrel is a symbol meaning playfulness, the ability to change direction quickly, the ability to rise above danger and the peace of life in the woods for those who are ready to retire from a more strenuous life. The squirrel prepares carefully for the future,which symbolically coincides with the old adage "what we sow is what we reap ", but always has time to play. Mrs. Ina Woolcott writes : "Squirrel’s gifts Include ability to solve puzzles, resourcefulness, balance in giving and receiving, power of rest during times of non-movement, warning, discovery, change avoiding danger by climbing to a higher place, action. The idea that there are obstacles which can't be overcome is not part of squirrel’s outlook on life, nor is giving up. Squirrel is an almighty power animal to have any time when you feel you have reached a dead end in your life, or in a situation and ready to give up. We are shown that perseverance and the readiness to try different methods are the keys to success. Squirrels are very trusting and are one of the few (wild) animals that will eat out of a person’s hand. This symbolizes a need to let down your defenses, and to learn to trust more. Trust issues can be present in all aspects of a person’s life from personal intimacy to trusting the universe. Because the squirrel is always prepared, if this is your power animal you must realize and remember that you will be taken care of. Building a strong sense of trust where it is missing would compliment the power of this medicine ". In Shakespeare's "Midnight Summer Dream " there is a line: "I have an adventurous fairy who’ll go seek out the squirrel’s secret stash and get you some fresh nuts ".
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Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares are classified into the same family as rabbits. They are similar in size and form to rabbits and eat the same diet. They are generally herbivorous and long-eared, they are fast runners, and they typically live solitarily or in pairs. Hare species are native to Africa, Eurasia, North America, and the Japanese archipelago. A hare less than one year old is called a leveret. The collective noun for a group of hares is a "drove". The hare in African folk tales is a trickster; some of the stories about the hare were retold among African slaves in America, and are the basis of the Br'er Rabbit stories. The hare appears in English folklore in the saying "as mad as a March hare" and in the legend of the White Hare that alternatively tells of a witch who takes the form of a white hare and goes out looking for prey at night or of the spirit of a broken-hearted maiden who cannot rest and who haunts her unfaithful lover. Many cultures, including the Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican, see a hare in the pattern of dark patches in the moon (see Moon rabbit. The constellation Lepus is also taken to represent a hare. The hare was once regarded as an animal sacred to Aphrodite and Eros because of its high libido. The rabbit is a symbol meaning generative power and fertility, obviously due to its amazing procreative abilities. In ancient Rome, the hare was highly valued as the animal of Venus, the goddess of love. Live hares were often presented as a gift of love. In addition, the hare has traditionally been an exciting animal for chase hunting. Now the hare is commonly associated with the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, and therefore pagan symbols like the Easter Bunny have been appropriated into the Christian tradition. However, no primary sources support this belief, which seems to be a modern invention. In European tradition, the hare symbolises the two qualities of swiftness and timidity. The latter once gave the European hare the Linnaean name Lepus timidus that is now limited to the Mountain hare. Several ancient fables depict the Hare in flight; in one concerning The Hares and the Frogs they even decide to commit mass suicide until they come across a creature so timid that it is even frightened of them. Conversely, in The Tortoise and the Hare, the best-known among Aesop's Fables, the hare loses a race through being too confident in its swiftness. In Irish folklore, the hare is often associated with Sidh (Fairy) or other pagan elements. In these stories, characters who harm hares often suffer dreadful consequences. A study in 2004 followed the history and migration of a symbolic image of three hares with conjoined ears. In this image, three hares are seen chasing each other in a circle with their heads near its centre. While each of the animals appears to have two ears, only three ears are depicted. The ears form a triangle at the centre of the circle and each is shared by two of the hares. The image has been traced from Christian churches in the English county of Devon right back along the Silk Road to China, via western and eastern Europe and the Middle East. Before its appearance in China, it was possibly first depicted in the Middle East before being reimported centuries later. Its use is associated with Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Buddhist sites stretching back to about 600 CE. In " As You Like It ", Shakespeare has Rosalind liken herself to a female coney (rabbit) when she’s speaking to Orlando “like a saucy lackey, and under that habit play the knave with him ”. Shakespeare is being naughty there — or saucy, as he himself put it. Under the historical pronunciation used in Shakespeare’s thyme, the actor speaking that like would have rhymed coney with honey, and audiences of that age all would have got the joke, just as they did when Shakespeare elsewhere wrote of “country matters”. Without the necessary rhyme, the intended sauciness may well be lost on latter day audiences. In Folk-lore of Shakespeare, by T.F. Thiselton Dyer, [1883] the reader can find the following statement : "Hare was formerly esteemed a melancholy animal, and its flesh was supposed to engender melancholy in those who ate it". In " Henry IV." Falstaff is told by Prince Henry, that he is as melancholy as a hare."
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Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by a lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All present-day salamander families are grouped together under the scientific name Urodela. Unique among vertebrates, they are capable of regenerating lost limbs, as well as other damaged parts of their bodies. Members of the family Salamandridae are mostly known as newts and lack the costal grooves along the sides of their bodies typical of other groups. The skin of some species contains the powerful poison tetrodotoxin and these salamanders tend to be slow-moving and have bright warning coloration to advertise their toxicity. More plausibly, salamanders were said to be intensely poisonous. Despite this, salamander brandy, a drink prepared by dunking live salamanders in fermenting fruit juices, is reputed to have hallucinogenic and aphrodisiac properties. The salamander's ability to regenerate lost body parts is being investigated and research is ongoing into any applications this may have for human medicine.
In literature and legend, the salamander is associated with fire, being supposedly unharmed by the flames, while clothes made from its skins or 'wool' were believed to be incombustible. The Japanese giant salamander (Andrias japonicus) is endemic to Japan, where it is known as Osanshouo, literally meaning "giant pepper fish". With a length of up to almost 1.5 m (5 ft), it is the second-largest salamander in the world, only being surpassed by the very similar and closely related Chinese giant salamander (A. davidianus). There are only three known members of the Cryptobranchidae family: the Japanese and Chinese giant salamanders and the Eastern hellbender. Japanese giant salamanders are widespread across rivers in southwestern Japan. The species frequently hybridizes with Chinese giant salamanders, which were introduced to the area. The Japanese giant salamander has been the subject of legend and artwork in Japan, for example, in the ukiyo-e work by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. The well-known Japanese mythological creature known as the Kappa may be inspired by the Japanese giant salamander. There is a Giant Salamander festival every year on August 8 th in the Okayama prefecture to honor the animal as a god. There are two salamander floats: a dark male and a red female. At the end of the day there is a Hanzaki song. A newt is a type of salamander, and they are traditionally associated with witchcraft. In William Shakespeare's famous tragedy "Macbeth", the Three Witches use the "eye of newt" as the first ingredient stirred in their cauldron.
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Foxes are small-to-medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. Foxes are slightly smaller than a medium-size domestic dog, with a flattened skull, upright triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or brush). Foxes are found on every continent except Antarctica. Foxes are excellent hunters: an ordinary fox can stalk a mouse from a distance of 25 feet, which means its "food" is making a barely audible rustling sound, hiding far away under the deep cover of snow. And yet the fox hurls its slim and flexible body into the air and dives vertically straight on top of the mouse, pinning it with its forepaws or grabbing the mouse's head with its teeth. While in the air foxes can still adjust their flight pattern by shifting their tails. The global distribution of foxes, together with their widespread reputation for cunning, has contributed to their prominence in popular culture and folklore in many societies around the world. The hunting of foxes with packs of hounds, long an established pursuit in Europe, especially in the British Isles, was exported by European settlers to various parts of the New World. The fox appears in many cultures, usually in folklore. However, there are slight variations in their depictions in folklore. In Western folklore and also in Persian folklore, foxes are depicted as a symbol of cunning and trickery – a reputation derived especially from their reputed ability to evade hunters. This is usually represented as a character possessing these traits. These traits are used on a wide variety of characters, either making them a nuisance to the story, a misunderstood hero, or a devious villain. In Asian folklore, foxes are depicted as a familiar spirit possessed of magic powers. Similar to Western folklore, foxes are depicted as mischievous, usually tricking other people, with the ability to disguise as an attractive female human. However, there are other depictions of foxes as a mystical, sacred creature, that can either bring wonder or ruin. Nine-tailed foxes appear in Chinese folklore, literature, and mythology, in which, depending on the tale can be a good or a bad omen. The motif was eventually introduced from Chinese to Japanese and Korean cultures. The constellation Vulpecula represents a fox. In some countries, foxes are major predators of mice,rabbits and hens. The fox is a symbol meaning one who looks out for himself or herself. A fox will use all of its intelligence, wit and wisdom in his or her own defense. The ability of the fox to look out for itself (sometimes at the expense of others) has led to the expression "sly as a fox". Kitsune is the Japanese word for fox. Foxes are a common subject of Japanese folklore; in English, kitsune refers to them in this context. Stories depict them as intelligent beings and as possessing magical abilities that increase with their age and wisdom. According to Yokai folklore, all foxes have the ability to shape shift into human form. While some folktales speak of kitsune employing this ability to trick others—as foxes in folklore often do—other stories portray them as faithful guardians, friends, lovers, and wives. Foxes and human beings lived close together in ancient Japan; this companionship gave rise to legends about the creatures. Kitsune have become closely associated with Inari, a Shinto kami or spirit, and serve as its messengers. This role has reinforced the fox's supernatural significance. The more tails a kitsune has—they may have as many as nine—the older, wiser, and more powerful it is. Because of their potential power and influence, some people make offerings to them as to a deity. Conversely foxes were often seen as "witch animals", especially during the superstitious Edo period (1603–1867), and were goblins who could not be trusted (similar to some badgers and cats). In Folk-lore of Shakespeare, by T.F. Thiselton Dyer, [1883], he writes: " It appears that the term fox was a common expression for the old English weapon, the broad sword of Jonson's days, as distinguished from the small (foreign) sword. The name was given from the circumstance that Andrea Ferrara adopted a fox as the blade mark of his weapons—a practice, since his time, adopted by other foreign sword-cutlers. Swords with a running fox rudely engraved on the blades, are still occasionally to be met with in the old curiosity shops of London. The tricks and artifices of a hunted fox were supposed to be very extraordinary, hence Falstaff makes use of this expression in " Henry IV.":— "No more truth in thee than in a drawn fox."
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The Japanese brown frog (Rana japonica) is a species of frog in the Ranidae family, endemic to Japan. Its natural habitats are temperate grassland, rivers, swamps, irrigated land, and seasonally flooded agricultural land. The use of the common names "frog" and "toad" has no taxonomic justification. From a classification perspective, all members of the order Anura are frogs, but only members of the family Bufonidae are considered "true toads". The use of the term "frog" in common names usually refers to species that are aquatic or semi-aquatic and have smooth, moist skins; the term "toad" generally refers to species that are terrestrial with dry, warty skins. There are numerous exceptions to this rule. The Jin Chan : "Golden Toad", also called Chan Chu , literally: "wealth-beckoning toad", is most commonly translated as "Money Toad" or "Money Frog". It represents a popular Feng Shui charm for prosperity. This mythical creature is said to appear during the full moon, near houses or businesses that will soon receive good wealth-related news.According to one Chinese legend, the Jin Chan was the greedy wife of one of the Eight Immortals, who was transformed into a toad as punishment for stealing the Peaches of Immortality. The Jin Chu is usually depicted as a bullfrog with red eyes, flared nostrils and only one hind leg (for a total of three legs), sitting on a pile of traditional Chinese cash, with a coin in its mouth. On its back, it often displays seven diamond spots symbolizing the Big Dipper, or the Plough, which plays an important role in Chinese astrology. The toad is often shown in the company of Liu Hai, a fabled 10th-century Chinese alchemist who learned the secret of immortality from the Chan Chu, and became a xian (immortal). In Japanese, Liu Hai is known as Gamma Sennin (Toad Sennin). There is a body of mythology about the pair, and they are sometimes included among the Eight Immortals, or depicted with members of this group. According to Feng Shui beliefs, Jin Chan helps attract and protect wealth, and guards against bad luck. Because it symbolizes the flow of money, Feng Shui lore insists that a Jin Chan statue should not be positioned facing the main door ("outward"). It also "should never be kept in the bathroom, bedroom, dining room or kitchen".
In William Shakespeare's tragedy "Macbeth " the toad is described as one of the
evil instruments of Three Witches :
"Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot". ,
which means that after thirty-one days of sweating poison under the cold stone, the toad is ready to be put into the pot.
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Mirror carp (Kagami Goi)) belongs to ornamental varieties of domesticated common carp (Cyprinus carpio) that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens. The word koi comes from Japanese, simply meaning "carp." It includes both the dull grey fish, mirror carp (Kagami Goi) and the brightly colored varieties. What are known as koi in English are referred to more specifically as nishikigoi in Japan (literally meaning "brocaded carp"). In Japanese, koi is a homophone for another word that means "affection" or "love"; koi are therefore symbols of love and friendship in Japan. In early May, tubular koinobori ('climbing carp') streamers made of cloth, paper or plastic, are flown all over Japan to celebrate Boys' Day. They represent the fish's struggle to swim upstream and are flown high to show they succeeded. Japanese pray on that day that their sons will be similarly successful, healthy and strong. In the dhamma of Buddhism the fish symbolize happiness as they have complete freedom of movement in the water. Often drawn in the form of carp which are regarded in the Orient as sacred on account of their elegant beauty, size and life-span. Gargoyle-like carp, known as shachihoko, often appear on opposite ends of the ridge of a castle roof to symbolise diligence and ecstasy. There is also a fertility association with this pair since one fish is male and the other female. Another interpretation is that they are symbolic of the elongated eyebrows of the Buddha. As tiger-headed sea monsters, they also symbolise water and its defensive capabilities against fire. The fish effigy often seen in Japanese temples is the mokugyo ('wooden fish'), fashioned in a roundish shape from a solid block of wood. It is carved with fish-scales and often with a lion/dragon head. Yet despite its peculiar appearance, its deep polish gives a warm consciousness. The mokugyo is hollowed out, so that when the priest strikes it with a leather-padded drumstick, the sound has a strange hypnotic effect on the hearer. This drum is often used to accompany a kyouten (sutra-reading). The significance of this fish is its eyes. Because fish live in darker environments, their eyes tend to be relatively large. Also, because their eyes are always surrounded by water, they don't need to moisten them as we do when we blink our eyes, so most fish have no eyelids. These large, constantly open eyes of the mokugyo remind us that God is always watching what we do. Therefore a Koi is not simply a fish, but rather a mirror of the wish we have for being heroic or in order to inspire fortitude. It can also be for totemic reasons, using the image as a protector against bad things lurking in our daily lives.
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The domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris or Canis familiaris) is a member of genus Canis (canines) that forms part of the wolf-like canids, and is the most widely abundant carnivore. The dog and the extant gray wolf are sister taxa, with modern wolves not closely related to the wolves that were first domesticated. Since its domestication, the dog has been selectively bred over millennia for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes.
Dogs vary widely in shape, size and colours. Dogs perform many roles for people, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and military, companionship and, more recently, aiding handicapped individuals. This influence on human society has given them the sobriquet, "man's best friend". However in China and South Vietnam dogs are a source of meat for humans. Dog meat is consumed in some East Asian countries, including Korea, China, and Vietnam, a practice that dates back to antiquity. It is estimated that 13–16 million dogs are killed and consumed in Asia every year. Other cultures, such as Polynesia and pre-Columbian Mexico, also consumed dog meat in their history. However, Western, South Asian, African, and Middle Eastern cultures, in general, regard consumption of dog meat as taboo. In mythology, dogs often serve as pets or as watchdogs. In Greek mythology, Cerberus is a three-headed watchdog who guards the gates of Hades. In Homer's epic poem the Odyssey, when the disguised Odysseus returns home after 20 years he is recognized only by his faithful dog, Argos, who has been waiting for his return. The role of the dog in Chinese mythology includes a position as one of the twelve animals which cyclically represent years (the zodiacal dog).In Islam, dogs are viewed as unclean because they are viewed as scavengers. Jewish law does not prohibit keeping dogs and other pets. Jewish law requires Jews to feed dogs (and other animals that they own) before themselves, and make arrangements for feeding them before obtaining them. In Christianity, dogs represent faithfulness. In China, Korea, and Japan, dogs are viewed as kind protectors. Japanese history, both verbal and written, describe the ancestors of the Akita, the Matagi dog (hunting dog, Bear hunting dog, Deer hunting dog), as one of the oldest of the native dogs. Today's Akita developed primarily from dogs in the northernmost region of the island of Honshu in the Akita prefecture, thus providing the breed's name. The Matagi's quarry included wild boar, Sika deer, and Asian black bear. The story of Hachiko, the most revered Akita of all time, helped push the Akita into the international dog world. Hachiko's legendary faithfulness to his master became a national symbol of loyalty, particularly to the person and institution of the Emperor.
The Japanese military waging a war of aggression on the Asian continent relied heavily on animal-based logistics—horses for transportation, pigeons for long-range communications and dogs for short-range communications and sentry duties. There were some 10,000 dogs in service with the Imperial Army as messengers, sentries, trackers and sled teams at time and, as Japan marched across Manchuria and later China. In English, "the dogs of war " is a phrase spoken by Mark Antony in Act 3, Scene 1, line 273 of William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar": "Cry 'Havoc!', and let slip the dogs of war". Apart from the literal meaning, a parallel can be drawn with the prologue to Henry V, where the warlike king is described as having at his heels, awaiting employment, the hounds "famine, sword and fire". Along those lines, an alternative proposed meaning is that "the dogs of war" refers figuratively to the wild pack of soldiers "let slip" by war's breakdown of civilized behavior and/or their commanders' orders to wreak "havoc", i.e., rape, pillage, and plunder. The line, "The dog will have his day," appears in the William Shakespeare play, "Hamlet", coming at the very end of Act 5, Scene 1. In other words, Hamlet sees himself as a righteous hero (Hercules), who, while he may be considered a lowly no-count creature by others (a dog), will surely have his revenge (his day).
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Snail is a common name that is applied most often to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name "snail" is also applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have a coiled shell that is large enough for the animal to retract completely into. When the word "snail" is used in this most general sense, it includes not just land snails but also thousands of species of sea snails and freshwater snails. Snail-like animals that naturally lack a shell, or have only an internal shell, are mostly called slugs, and land snails that have only a very small shell (that they cannot retract into) are often called semi-slugs. Because of its slowness, the snail has traditionally been seen as a symbol of laziness. In Christian culture, it has been used as a symbol of the deadly sin of sloth. Psalms 58:8 uses snail slime as a metaphorical punishment. Snails were widely noted and used in divination. The Greek poet Hesiod wrote that snails signified the time to harvest by climbing the stalks, while the Aztec moon god Tecciztecatl bore a snail shell on his back. This symbolised rebirth; the snail's penchant for appearing and disappearing was analogised with the moon. The use of love darts by the land snail Monachoides vicinus is a form of sexual selection. Professor Ronald Chase of McGill University in Montreal has suggested the ancient myth of Cupid's arrows might be based on early observations of the love dart behavior of the land snail species Helix aspersa. In contemporary speech, the expression "a snail's pace" is often used to describe a slow, inefficient process. In the play "As You Like It" by William Shakespeare there is an ironic mentioning of this mollusk: "Orlando: A snail?
Rosalind: Yes, a snail. Because even though he’s slow, he carries his house on his head - a better offer than you can make a woman, I think. Besides, he brings his fate with him". A common amusement among children consists in charming snails, in order to induce them to put out their horns - a couplet, such as the following, being repeated on the occasion:
"Peer out, peer out, peer out of your hole,
Or else I'll beat you as black as a coal".
William Shakespeare alludes to snail-charming in the "Merry Wives of Windsor", where Mrs. Page says of Mrs. Ford's husband, he "so buffets himself on the forehead, crying, Peer out! peer out! that any madness I ever yet beheld seemed but tameness, civility, and patience, to this his distemper he is in now". In Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors" , the snail is used to denote a lazy person.
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Butterflies are insects in the clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises the large superfamily Papilionoidea, along with two smaller groups, the skippers (superfamily Hesperioidea) and the moth-butterflies (superfamily Hedyloidea). Butterfly fossils date to the Palaeocene, about 56 million years ago.
According to Lafcadio Hearn, a butterfly was seen in Japan as the personification of a person's soul; whether they be living, dying, or already dead. One Japanese superstition says that if a butterfly enters your guest room and perches behind the bamboo screen, the person whom you most love is coming to see you. Large numbers of butterflies are viewed as bad omens. When Taira no Masakado was secretly preparing for his famous revolt, there appeared in Kyoto so vast a swarm of butterflies that the people were frightened — thinking the apparition to be a portent of coming evil. Diderot's Encyclopedie cites butterflies as a symbol for the soul. A Roman sculpture depicts a butterfly exiting the mouth of a dead man, representing the Roman belief that the soul leaves through the mouth. In line with this, the ancient Greek word for "butterfly" is psyche, which primarily means "soul" or "mind". According to Mircea Eliade, some of the Nagas of Manipur claim ancestry from a butterfly. In some cultures, butterflies symbolise rebirth. The butterfly is a symbol of being transgender, because of the transformation from caterpillar to winged adult. In the English county of Devon, people once hurried to kill the first butterfly of the year, to avoid a year of bad luck. In the Philippines, a lingering black butterfly or moth in the house is taken to mean a death in the family. Several American states have chosen an official state butterfly. The insect of spectacular metamorphosis is connected to the soul–specifically to its transformation and resurrection. It also is symbolic of happiness and beauty. The winged creature is the symbol of the geisha in Japan, but 2 butterflies signify a joyful marriage. There is an old tradition in Japan of releasing butterflies at a wedding. The famous classic opera "Madam Butterfly," by Giacomo Puccini ( 1904) is partially based on the following fictional story by John Luther Long: American Navy officer Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton (the name itself is an ironic accentuation of his role as the American intruder) marries in Nagasaki a young geisha Ciocio-san (cio-cio, pronounced "chocho" Japanese word for "butterfly" chocho); san is a plain honorific). Butterfly had been so excited to marry an American that she had earlier secretly converted to Christianity. The naive Butterfly believes that her marriage is for real. After the wedding ceremony, her uncle, a local bonze, who has found out about her conversion, comes to the house, and curses her for betraying the religion of her ancestors. She asks Pinkerton whether it is true that, in foreign lands, a man will catch a butterfly and pin its wings to a table. Pinkerton admits that it is true but explains, "Do you know why? So that she'll not fly away ". Pinkerton departs with his ship, promising to return. During his absence, Butterfly gives birth to his child. When Pinkerton's ship finally does return, Butterfly learns that he has married an American woman who wishes to take Butterfly's child back to the United States. Agreeing to give up her child if Pinkerton comes himself to see her, Butterfly then kneels before the statue of Buddha and prays to her ancestral gods. She rises, takes down her father's sword, kisses the blade, and reads the inscription on it: "Who cannot live with honor must die with honor". Butterfly than takes the sword , walks behind the screen and cuts her throat. From outside, Pinkerton cries, "Butterfly!" and rushes in – but it is too late: Butterfly is dead. The butterfly effect is the concept that small causes can have large effects. Initially, it was used with weather prediction but later the term became a metaphor used in and out of science. The phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado or delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in another location. The butterfly does not power or directly create the tornado, but the term is intended to imply that the flap of the butterfly's wings can cause the tornado: in the sense that the flap of the wings is a part of the initial conditions; one set of conditions leads to a tornado while the other set of conditions doesn't. The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which cascades to large-scale alterations of events (compare: domino effect). Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different—but it's also equally possible that the set of conditions without the butterfly flapping its wings is the set that leads to a tornado. In "The Vocation of Man " German philosopher, Johann Gottlieb Fichte ( 1762-1814 ) says that "you could not remove a single grain of sand from its place without thereby ... changing something throughout all parts of the immeasurable whole".
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Fireflies (The Lampyridae ) are a family of insects in the beetle order Coleoptera. They are winged beetles, commonly called fireflies or lightning bugs for their conspicuous use of bioluminescence during twilight to attract mates or prey. Fireflies produce a "cold light", with no infrared or ultraviolet frequencies. This chemically produced light from the lower abdomen may be yellow, green, or pale red. About 2,000 species of fireflies are found in temperate and tropical climates. Many are in marshes or in wet, wooded areas where their larvae have abundant sources of food. Their larvae emit light and often are called "glowworms" in Eurasia and elsewhere. In the Americas, "glow worm" also refers to the related Phengodidae. In many species, both male and female fireflies have the ability to fly, but in some species, the females are flightless. Light in adult beetles was originally thought to be used for similar warning purposes, but now its primary purpose is thought to be used in mate selection. Fireflies are a classic example of an organism that uses bioluminescence for sexual selection. They have a variety of ways to communicate with mates in courtships: steady glows, flashing, and the use of chemical signals unrelated to photic systems. The signal provides potential mates with information about the species of the signaller or its quality as a mate. Some species, especially lightning bugs of the genera Photinus, Photuris, and Pyractomena, are distinguished by the unique courtship flash patterns emitted by flying males in search of females. In general, females of the Photinus genus do not fly, but do give a flash response to males of their own species. Tropical fireflies, in particular, in Southeast Asia, routinely synchronise their flashes among large groups. This phenomenon is explained as phase synchronization and spontaneous order. At night along river banks in the Malaysian jungles, fireflies synchronize their light emissions precisely. Current hypotheses about the causes of this behavior involve diet, social interaction, and altitude. In the Philippines, thousands of fireflies can be seen all year-round in the town of Donsol. In the United States, one of the most famous sightings of fireflies blinking in unison occurs annually near Elkmont, Tennessee, in the Great Smoky Mountains during the first weeks of June. Congaree National Park in South Carolina is another host to this phenomenon. Female Photuris fireflies are known for mimicking the mating flashes of other "lightning bugs" for the sole purpose of predation. Target males are attracted to what appears to be a suitable mate, and are then eaten. For this reason, sometimes, Photuris species are referred to as "femme fatale fireflies." The Japanese word for a firefly is "hotaru." In some cultures hotaru might not have a positive reputation, but they are well liked in Japanese society. They have been a metaphor for passionate love in poetry since Man'you-shu (the 8th century anthology). Their eerie lights are also thought to be the altered form of the souls of soldiers who have died in war. It is popular to view the fireflies' glow during hot summer nights (hotaru-gari). However, since hotaru inhabit only clean streams, their numbers have been decreasing in recent years due to pollution. In William Shakespeare's "Romeo
and Juliet " one can read: " Mercutio is like a lightning bug, Benvolio sometimes thinks- brilliant, glowing, and golden. But even fireflies can fear the dark".
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The Japanese raccoon dog also known as tanuki in Japanese, is a subspecies of the Asian raccoon dog. Zoologist Clinton Hart Merriam described raccoons as "clever beasts", and that "in certain directions their cunning surpasses that of the fox." The animal's intelligence gave rise to the epithet "sly coon". Raccoons are usually skittish but if cornered can be very dangerous. Although they are cute, raccoons can be very ferocious fighters particularly when protecting their young. As the tanuki, the animal has been significant in Japanese folklore since ancient times. The legendary tanuki is reputed to be mischievous and jolly, a master of disguise and shapeshifting, but somewhat gullible and absentminded. It is also a common theme in Japanese art, especially statuary. The tanuki of Japan from time immemorial were deified as governing all things in nature, but after the arrival of Buddhism, animals other than envoys of the gods (foxes, snakes, etc.) lost their divinity. Since all that remained was the image of possessing special powers, they were seen as evil or as yokai, with tanuki being a representative type. Some also take the viewpoint that the image of the tanuki has overlapped with that of the mysterious and fearful animal of China (leopard cat). However, since the tanuki of Japan do not have the fearsome image that the leopard cats of China do, unlike in China, their image took the form of a more humorous kind of monster, and even in folktales like "Kachi-kachi Yama", and "Bunbuku Chagama", they often played the part of foolish animals with oversized scrotum. In Japan, up to 1,500 raccoons were imported as pets each year after the success of the anime series "Rascal the Raccoon" (1977). In 2004, the descendants of discarded or escaped animals lived in 42 of 47 prefectures. The population of raccoons in Japan grew from 17 prefectures in 2000 to all 47 prefectures in 2008. Today, raccoons are a nuisance animal in Japan, rummaging through trash, stealing goods from vendors, feasting on crops and even damaging ancient Japanese temples with their sharp claws and abundant poop.
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The great white egret (Ardea alba), also known as the common egret, large egret or (in the Old World) great white heron, is a large, widely distributed egret, with four subspecies found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and southern Europe. Distributed across most of the tropical and warmer temperate regions of the world. The eastern great egret has a wide distribution throughout Asia and Oceania, with breeding populations in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, China, Korea, north-eastern Russia, Japan, Indochina, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Australia, and New Zealand.
It builds tree nests in colonies close to water. The great egret feeds in shallow water or drier habitats, feeding mainly on fish, frogs, small mammals, and occasionally small reptiles and insects, spearing them with its long, sharp bill most of the time by standing still and allowing the prey to come within its striking distance of its bill which it uses as a spear. It will often wait motionless for prey, or slowly stalk its victim. The name of venerable Shariputra, one of the Buddha's best known followers, signifies the son of the egret (among other possibilities), it is said that his mother had eyes like a great egret. Japanese love the beautiful snow-white figure of heron and crane (tsuru) as a symbol of peace. According to religious belief pure white cranes inhabit the Isles of the Bless and their powerful wings are able to convey souls to the Western Paradise. Many old tales tell about white big birds which have been admired in Japan for their noble and graceful appearance. In old days white cranes and egrets were regarded divine birds which started rice farming bringing grains from far away. They are known as the birds of happiness and are associated with fidelity because they mate for life. They are also symbols of longevity and are often drawn with pine trees, tortoises, stones and bamboos, which are all symbols of long life. The cranes and herons are also associated with good fortune and prosperity. So they are often painted with the sun, which is a symbol of social ambition.”
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A gamecock is a type of rooster with physical and behavioral traits suitable for cockfighting. The cocks are specially bred and trained for increased stamina and strength. Cocks possess congenital aggression toward all males of the same species. Cocks are given the best of care until near the age of two years. They are conditioned, much like professional athletes prior to events or shows. Wagers are often made on the outcome of the match. Cockfighting is a blood sport due in some part to the physical trauma the cocks inflict on each other, which is sometimes increased for entertainment purposes by attaching metal spurs to the cocks' natural spurs. While not all fights are to the death, the cocks may endure significant physical trauma. The first use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a “game”, a sport, hobby, or entertainment, was in 1646 after the term “cock of the game” was used by George Wilson, in the earliest known book on the sport of cockfighting in The Commendation of Cocks and Cock Fighting in 1607. There are religious significance and aspects of the rooster and the cockfight which are exampled by the religious belief of Tabuh Rah, a religious and spiritual cockfight where a rooster is used in religious custom by allowing him to fight against another rooster in the Balinese Hinduism spiritual appeasement exercise of Tabuh Rah, a form of animal sacrifice, where ritual fights usually take place outside the temple and follow an ancient and complex ritual as set out in the sacred lontar manuscripts. Similarly within the religious schema of Christianity and the cockfight within a religious, spiritual and sacred context, there are numerous representations of the rooster or the cock and the cockfight as a religious vessel found in the Catacombs from the earliest period as well as similar illustrations of cocks in fighting stance taken from the Vivian Bible.Similarly a multitude of sarcophagi are found with the rooster and the sacred cockfight with the understanding of striving for resurrection and eternal life in Christianity. A black cockerel was believed in medieval times to be a symbol of witchcraft along with the black cat, with the rooster "used as symbols of either virtue or vice" until modern times. The Rooster is the tenth of the twelve animal symbols in the Chinese zodiac. Shintoism is the indigenous spirituality of the people of Japan with many roosters being found around Shinto shrines, with the rooster being associated with the sun goddess Amaterasu. Roosters (cocks) announce the beginning of a new day; therefore, the simplest reason for the rooster is to set the scene. On a deeper level, the rooster was (and still is) extremely significant in the history of developing cultures around the world. The Greeks, for example, believed that the rooster guided souls to the under-world (the "kingdom of deaths"). The rooster appears in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" as the Ghost exits the play and signifies the dawn. The rooster proves to be significant because not only does it indicate how much time has elapsed it also brings about a Christian reference. Horatio explains, "The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat Awake the god of day, and, at his warning, Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, The extravagant and erring spirit hies to his confine, and of the truth herein," (Act I, Scene I, 6). This quote explains that as the Ghost exits when the rooster crows he is fleeing from the Earth because Jesus is to return during the day. Horatio believes that Jesus is unable to protect from spirits that come about in the night. The rooster, therefore, symbolizes a new day as well as promise of Jesus' love for the land and the people.
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Lark(Alauda) is a genus of larks with four species found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. The current genus name is from Latin alauda, "lark". Pliny the Elder thought the word was originally of Celtic origin. The Japanese skylark (Alauda japonica or Alauda arvensis japonica) is usually considered a subspecies of Eurasian skylark. It is endemic to Japan. Of all the birds you can encounter in literature, the skylark has been most intriguing. First, because to the writers it is so powerfully representative of freedom, inspiration, hope, and joy. And the source of this bird’s literary mystique must be that it had an unusually beautiful song. Certainly it’s not known for its plumage; as befits a ground-nester, the skylark has cryptic coloration, with streaky earth-tones. Unlike most perching birds, the male sings in flight, and what a flight: he starts up suddenly from the ground, goes up high in the sky––50 to 100 meters––and hovers there for a few minutes, then plummets down to land on the ground. And all this time he is singing: while he rises so high that he may be scarcely visible, while he stays aloft, while he plunges to the earth again. Bird songs are among the most complex sounds produced by animals and the skylark (Alauda arvensis) is one of the most complex of all. The songs are composed of ‘syllables’, consecutive sounds produced in a complex way, with almost no repetition. The male skylark can sing more than 300 different syllables, and each individual bird’s song is slightly different. It becomes associated with all the possibilities of a new day, the freshness of dawn, the light banishing darkness. The association of the lark with dawn is so strong, poets even credit him with summoning the sun.
Derived from comparison to the seemingly cheerful birdsong of a lark.
In Chinese culture, there is a popular belief that the skylark is the spirit of a person who has come back from the dead. This is found in the expression: "Becomes a skylark after death and flies back to visit its relatives. English idiom " happy as a lark " means: to be very happy (sometimes with the extra connotations of being carefree or unaware of grimmer realities).
William Shakespeare mentioned this poetic bird in his poems and plays at least twice:
"(Spring} When … merry larks are ploughmen’s clocks"…
Love’s Labour’s Lost V, ii.
"The busy day,
Waked by the lark, hath roused the ribald crows".
Troilus and Cressida, IV, ii
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The swan or whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus), pronounced hooper swan, is a large Northern Hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American trumpeter swan, and the type species for the Cygnus genus. Francis Willughby and John Ray's Ornithology of 1676 referred to this swan as "the Elk, Hooper, or wild Swan. The scientific name is from cygnus, the Latin for "swan". Whooper swans can measure 1.5 meters from head to tail, with a wingspan of over 2 meters. They have thick bodies and can weigh up to 12 kilograms, making them one of the heaviest flying birds. The whoopers in Japan breed in eastern Siberia and winter in unfrozen ponds, lakes and bays in Japan. They begin mating after reaching age of three or four and build large nests from reeds and sedges with the female incubating the eggs while the makes forages for food. The young are grey in color. They stay with their parents during the first winter. Great flocks with thousands of whopper swans stop in eastern Hokkaido in November and December on their way from Siberia to warm areas in Honshu.
Many of the cultural aspects refer to the mute swan of Europe. Perhaps the best known story about a swan is "The Ugly Duckling" fable. Swans are often a symbol of love or fidelity because of their long-lasting, apparently monogamous relationships. See the famous swan-related operas Lohengrin and Parsifal. Swan meat was regarded as a luxury food in England in the reign of Elizabeth I.
Swans feature strongly in mythology. In Greek mythology, the story of Leda and the Swan recounts that Helen of Troy was conceived in a union of Zeus disguised as a swan and Leda, Queen of Sparta. Other references in classical literature include the belief that upon death the otherwise-silent mute swan would sing beautifully—hence the phrase swan song; as well as Juvenile's sarcastic reference to a good woman being a "rare bird, as rare on earth as a black swan", from which we get the Latin phrase rara avis, rare bird. The mute swan is also one of the sacred birds of Apollo, whose associations stem both from the nature of the bird as a symbol of light as well as the notion of a "swan song". The god is often depicted riding a chariot pulled by or composed of swans in his ascension from Delos.In Ainu folk tales, the swan was an angelic bird who lived in heaven. When the Ainu fought amongst themselves killing all but one boy, the Swan descended from heaven, transformed into a woman, and reared the boy to manhood. She then married him to preserve the Ainu race.
The story of the Knight of the Swan, or Swan Knight, is a medieval tale about a mysterious rescuer who comes in a swan-drawn boat to defend a damsel, his only condition being that he must never be asked his name. At a later time, the German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach incorporated the swan knight Loherangrin into his Arthurian epic Parzival (first quarter of the 13th century). A German text, written by Konrad von Wuerzburg in 1257, also featured a Swan Knight without a name. Wolfram's and Konrad's were used to construct the libretto for Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin (Weimar 1850). The Swan was also a theatre in London built in 1595 on top of a previously standing structure, during the first half of William Shakespeare's career. After Bard's death the Swan was deserted. The building grew decrepit over the next two decades. In Nicholas Goodman's 1632 pamphlet Holland's Leaguer, the theatre is described as "now fallen into decay, and, like a dying swan, hangs her head and sings her own dirge". Historical sources do not mention the Swan after that date. The Sweet Swan of Avon (or “Swan of Avon”) was a complimentary nickname bestowed upon Shakespeare by Ben Jonson, a famous contemporary playwright, in his dedicatory poem that appears in the preface to the First Folio (1623). The poem, entitled “To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare,” includes these lines:
"Sweet Swan of Avon! What a sight it were
To see thee in our waters yet appeare,
And make those flights upon the bankes of Thames,
That so did take Eliza and our Iames!"
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The cuckoos are a family of birds, Cuculidae, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes. The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separated as distinct families, the Centropodidae and Crotophagidae respectively. The cuckoos are generally medium-sized slender birds. The majority are arboreal, with a sizeable minority that are terrestrial. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the majority of species being tropical. Some species are migratory. The cuckoos feed on insects, insect larvae and a variety of other animals, as well as fruit. Many species are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other species, but the majority of species raise their own young. Cuckoos have played a significant role in human culture for thousands of years, appearing in Greek mythology as sacred to the goddess Hera. In Europe, the cuckoo is associated with spring, with life expectancy( death ) and wedding bells. In India, cuckoos are sacred to Kamadeva, the god of desire and longing, whereas in Japan, the cuckoo symbolises unrequited love. There is an famous Japanese story for the characters of the three unifiers of Japan. Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Tokugawa were watching a cuckoo bird waiting for it to sing, but the bird wouldn't sing. Nobunaga says "Little bird, if you don't sing I will kill you". Hideyoshi says "Little bird, if you don't sing, I'll make you sing". Then Tokugawa Ieyasu says to the bird "Little bird, if you don't sing I will wait for you to sing". It was these characteristics that made these men so important for the unification of Japan. Nobunaga's violent and impatient demeanor made him a scary leader, he won over majority of Japan but was then defeated and took his own life. Hideyoshi was Nobunaga first man and took over his leadership after his masters death. A loyal and willing leader and soldier soon to become the first official Shogun, only to be taken over by Ieyasu, a soldier feared on the battlefield for his incredible patience and wisdom. It was Ieyasu, becoming Shogun after Hideyoshi who was to finally bring peace to the warring clans of Japan. The hototogisu is a kind of other Japanese cuckoo (Cuculus poliocephalus). The song of the hototogisu traditionally signaled the arrival of summer. In other tales, the mournful cry of a hototogisu in a lonely wood was associated with the longing of the spirits of the dead to return to their loved ones still living. The hototogisu has long been a popular subject in Japanese literature and poetry, making appearances in both The Tale of Genji and The Pillow Book, and practically comprising an entire genre of hototogisu haiku. It is a convenient word in that it contians 5 syllables and when you add yama (mountain) it comprises 7 syllables. One of the great tragedies of Japanese myth is the revenge drama of the Soga Brothers. In the stunning print by Kunisada , the two samurai depicted are Nitta Tadatsune and Soga no Sukenari. Soga no Sukenari’s father was killed by Nitta Tadatsune’s lord, and murdered in turn by Soga and his brother. In the end, Nitta Tadatsune takes his own revenge by killing Soga no Sukenari. The cuckoo is pictured on woodblock print as a portent of tragedy (as is the rain) and of the echo of the dead and unquiet father. William Shakespeare mentioned cuckoo in his plays at least 3 times:
"The cuckoo builds not for himself ". "Antony and Cleopatra"
"And being fed by us you used us so
As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird,
Useth the sparrow ". "Henry IV, Part I "
"The cuckoo then on every tree,
Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Cuckoo! O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear". " Love's Labour's Lost"
Rock 12
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Kingfishers are a group of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found outside of the Americas. The group is treated either as a single family, the Alcedinidae, or as a suborder Alcedines containing three families, Alcedinidae (river kingfishers), Halcyonidae (tree kingfishers), and Cerylidae (water kingfishers). Roughly 90 species of kingfishers are described. All have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with few differences between the sexes. Most species are tropical in distribution, and a slight majority are found only in forests. They consume a wide range of prey, as well as fish, usually caught by swooping down from a perch. While kingfishers are usually thought to live near rivers and eat fish, most species live away from water and eat small invertebrates. Like other members of their order, they nest in cavities, usually tunnels dug into the natural or artificial banks in the ground. A quarter of all kingfishers nest in abandoned termite nests. A few species, principally insular forms, are threatened with extinction. In Britain, the word "kingfisher" normally refers to the common kingfisher. Where to find them: Flying low along rivers and other bodies of water from Hokkaido to Kyushu. If these birds were cars, they would be Mazda MX-5s: low-riding, fast and twitchy. The wings whir. Kingfishers are sometimes seen perching near water, or even hovering above it. They prefer still or slow-flowing water such as lakes and ponds, canals and rivers in lowland areas. The unforgivable concreting of Japan’s rivers and waterways has not been kind to kingfishers, which are sensitive to pollution and poor management of water systems. Although this bird’s Japanese name kawasemi literally means “river cicada,” kingfishers are far less common than cicadas. In winter, when ice covers inland waters, they move to estuaries on the coast. Kingfishers are generally shy birds, but in spite of this, they feature heavily in human culture, generally due to the large head supporting its powerful mouth, their bright plumage, or some species' interesting behavior. For the Dusun people of Borneo, the Oriental dwarf kingfisher is considered a bad omen, and warriors who see one on the way to battle should return home. Another Bornean tribe considers the banded kingfisher an omen bird, albeit generally a good omen. The sacred kingfisher, along with other Pacific kingfishers, was venerated by the Polynesians, who believed it had control over the seas and waves. Modern taxonomy also refers to the winds and sea in naming kingfishers after a classical Greek myth. The first pair of the mythical-bird Halcyon (kingfishers) were created from a marriage of Alcyone and Ceyx. As gods, they lived the sacrilege of referring to themselves as Zeus and Hera. They died for this, but the other gods, in an act of compassion, made them into birds, thus restoring them to their original seaside habitat. In addition, special "halcyon days" were granted. These are the seven days on either side of the winter solstice when storms shall never again occur for them. The Halcyon birds' "days" were for caring for the winter-hatched clutch (or brood), but the phrase "Halcyon days" also refers specifically to an idyllic time in the past, or in general to a peaceful time. Various kinds of kingfishers and human cultural artifacts are named after the couple, in reference to this metamorphosis myth: The genus Ceyx (within the river kingfishers family) is named after him. The kingfisher family Halcyonidae (tree kingfishers) is named after his wife, as is the genus Halcyon. The belted kingfisher's specific name (Megaceryle alcyon) also references her name. Not all the kingfishers are named in this way. The etymology of kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) is obscure; the term comes from "king's fisher", but why that name was applied is not known. The Halcyon is a bird of Greek legend and the name is now commonly given to the European Kingfisher. The ancients believed that the bird made a floating nest in the Aegean Sea and had the power to calm the waves while brooding her eggs. Fourteen days of calm weather were to be expected when the Halcyon was nesting - around the winter solstice, usually 21st or 22nd of December. The Halcyon days are generally regarded as beginning on the 14th or 15th of December. The source of the belief in the bird's power to calm the sea originated in a myth recorded by Ovid. The story goes that Aeolus, the ruler of the winds, had a daughter named Alcyone, who was married to Ceyx, the king of Thessaly. Ceyx was drowned at sea and Alcyone threw herself into the waves in a fit of grief. Instead of drowning, she was transformed into a bird and carried to her husband by the wind. The myth came to the English-speaking world in the 14th century, when, in 1398, John Trevisa translated Bartholomew de Glanville's De proprietatibus rerum into Middle English:
"In the cliffe of a ponde of occean, Alcion, a see foule, in wynter maketh her neste and layeth egges in vii days and sittyth on brood ... seuen dayes ".
By the 16th century the phrase 'halcyon days' had lost its association with the nesting time of the bird and had taken on the figurative meaning of 'calm days'. Shakespeare used the expression that way in "Henry VI", Part I, 1592:
"Assign'd am I to be the English scourge.
This night the siege assuredly I'll raise:
Expect Saint Martin's summer, halcyon days,
Since I have entered into these wars".
Note: Saint Martin's summer is what we now know as an Indian summer.
The kingfisher is associated with other powers relating to the weather. In mediaeval times it was thought that if the dried carcass of a kingfisher was hung up it would always point its beak in the direction of the wind. Shakespeare also refers to this belief, in King Lear, 1605:
"Bring oil to fire, snow to their colder moods;
Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks
With every gale and vary of their masters".
Our current use of 'halcyon days' tends to be nostalgic and recalling of the seemingly endless sunny days of youth - despite the fact that the original halcyon days were in the depths of winter.
***
The jungle crow (Corvus macrorhynchos), is a widespread Asian species of crow. It is very adaptable and is able to survive on a wide range of food sources, making it capable of colonizing new areas, due to which it is often considered a nuisance, especially on islands. It has a large bill which is the source of its scientific name macrorhynchos (Ancient Greek for "large beak"), and it is sometimes known by the common names large-billed crow or thick-billed crow. It can also be mistaken for a raven. The crow plays an important part in The Kojiki, Japan's oldest record, telling the Shinto creation story and the legends of the early emperors. This was no ordinary crow though, and was instead the mythological "great crow" sent from heaven Yatagarasu or "eight-span crow" and the appearance of the great bird is construed as evidence of the will of Heaven or divine intervention in human affairs. Yatagarasu has come to be understood as the translation of a crow eight feet (literal feet or spans, not the American measurement) long. Although Yatagarasu is mentioned in a number of places in Shinto, the depictions of it are primarily seen on Edo wood art. The crow is a mark of rebirth and rejuvenation; the animal that has historically cleaned up after great battles symbolized the renaissance after such tragedy. Yatagarasu as a crow-god is a symbol specifically of guidance. This great crow was sent from heaven as a guide for Emperor Jimmu on his initial journey from the region which would become Kumano to what would become Yamato, (Yoshino and then Kashihara). Emperor Jimmu has links to the gods himself. It is generally accepted that Yatagarasu is an incarnation of Taketsunimi no mikoto. In more than one instance, Yatagarasu appears as a three legged crow not in Kojiki but in Wamyo Ruijusho. There are actually 2 castles in Japan with the nickname "Crow Castle." These are Okayama Castle and Matsumoto Castle. These castles have black exteriors, due to black painted wood placed over the plaster walls. Crow Tengu are one of the main types of Tengu, a group of mythical creatures found in Japanese traditional lore and religions, that are similar in some ways to goblins in the western tradition. Tengu are the patrons of the martial arts and famed for their skills in sword fighting, weapon smithing and being skilled warriors. Tengu protect the Dharma, or Buddhist law against transgressors of the Dharma. This is most often seen in their hatred of arrogant and vain priests and samurai, which the tengu play tricks on, and punish priests that use their knowledge and authority to gain fame or position. In fact, these vain and arrogant priests are thought to become Tengu after their deaths. Tengu have a variety of supernatural powers that they use to play these tricks on people including: shape-shifting to human or animal forms, speaking without moving their mouths, moving instantly from place to place and being able to invade people's dreams. The crow or corvid family have been associated with doom-laden myths and legends for centuries, making Halloween a particularly suitable time to be thinking about them. From Aesop in 6th century BC Greece up to Ted Hughes’ malevolent "Crow", they have been renowned as messengers, mischief-makers, and bringers of bad luck, even death. It may be because of their habit of scavenging from dead bodies, or their distinctive calls, particularly the deep “pruk, pruk” of the raven or the cacophony of a rook colony. When Shakespeare wanted to conjure up a sense of foreboding he often used the image of the birds of the crow family: crows, magpies, ravens and rooks. Lady Macbeth chillingly predicts the King’s murder:
"The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements".
And at the beginning of the play scene in "Hamlet", the prince links the idea of revenge with the same birds:
"Begin, murderer. Pox, leave thy damnable faces, and begin!
Come, the croaking raven doth bellow for revenge".
***
The wrens are mostly small, stump-tailed, mouse-like brownish passerine birds in the mainly New World family Troglodytidae. The family name Troglodytidae is derived from troglodyte, which means "cave-dweller", and the wrens get their scientific name from the tendency of some species to forage in dark crevices.
This "cave-dweller" behavior of wrens is seen in some cultures as a connection to the Underworlds or Realms of the Dead. Only the Eurasian wren occurs in the Old World, where in Anglophone regions, it is commonly known simply as the "wren", as it is the originator of the name. Most wrens are small and rather inconspicuous, except for their loud and often complex songs, sometimes given in duet by a pair. The song of members of the genera Cyphorhinus and Microcerculus have been considered especially pleasant to the human ear, leading to common names such as song wren, musician wren, flutist wren, and southern nightingale-wren. In European folklore, the wren is the king of the birds, according to a fable attributed to Aesop by Plutarch, when the eagle and the wren strove to fly the highest, the wren rested on the eagle's back, and when the eagle tired, the wren flew out above him. Thus, Plutarch implied, the wren proved that cleverness is better than strength. It was a sacred bird to the druids, who considered it "king of all birds", and used its musical notes for divination. The shape-shifting Fairy Queen took the form of a wren, known as "Jenny Wren" in nursery rhymes. A wren's feather was thought to be a charm against disaster or drowning. The wren also features in the legend of Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who supposedly was betrayed by the noisy bird as he attempted to hide from his enemies. Some versions of the story say that the wren was killed by being stoned to death, the same fate that met Saint Stephen. Traditionally, St. Stephen's Day (26 December) has been commemorated by Hunting the Wren, wherein young wrenboys would catch the bird and then ritually parade it around town, as described in the traditional "Wren Song". The Wren, the Wren, the king of all birds, St. Stephen's day was caught in the furze. Although he is little, his family's great, I pray you, good landlady, give us a treat. The tradition, and the significance of the wren as a symbol and sacrifice of the old year, is discussed in Sir James Frazer's The Golden Bough. According to Suetonius, the assassination of Julius Caesar was foretold by an unfortunate wren. On the day before the Ides of March, a wren was seen being pursued in a frenzy by various other birds. With a conspicuous sprig of laurel clamped in its beak, the wren flew desperately into the Roman Senate, but there its pursuers overtook it and tore it to pieces. In modern German, the name is Zaunkoenig, king of the fence (or hedge). German idiom "sich wie ein Schneekoenig freuen " means: be as happy or joyful as a lark. In Japan, the wren is labeled king of the winds. Wrens are normally reclusive, but could be belligerent, especially when attacked. In Shakespeare's " Lady Macbeth" Lady Macduff complains that her husband has abandoned his family rather than staying to defend them:
"He wants the natural touch; for the poor wren,
The most diminutive of birds, will fight,
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl".
Rock 13
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Cranes are a family, Gruidae, of large, long-legged and long-necked birds in the group Gruiformes. There are fifteen species of crane in four genera. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back. Cranes live on all continents except Antarctica and South America. The cranes' beauty and their spectacular mating dances have made them highly symbolic birds in many cultures with records dating back to ancient times. Crane mythology is widely spread and can be found in areas such as the Aegean, South Arabia, China, Korea, Japan and in the Native American cultures of North America. In northern Hokkaido, the women of the Ainu people performed a crane dance that was captured in 1908 in a photograph by Arnold Genthe. In Korea, a crane dance has been performed in the courtyard of the Tongdosa Temple since the Silla Dynasty (646 CE). In China, several styles of kung fu take inspiration from the movements of cranes in the wild, the most famous of these styles being Wing Chun, Hung Gar (tiger crane), and the Shaolin Five Animals style of fighting. Crane movements are well known for their fluidity and grace.
Pliny the Elder wrote that cranes would appoint one of their number to stand guard while they slept. The sentry would hold a stone in its claw, so that if it fell asleep it would drop the stone and waken. A crane holding a stone in its claw is a well-known symbol in heraldry, and is known as a crane in its vigilance. Greek and Roman myths often portrayed the dance of cranes as a love of joy and a celebration of life, and the crane was often associated with both Apollo and Hephaestus. Throughout Asia, the crane is a symbol of happiness and eternal youth. In Japan, the crane is one of the mystical or holy creatures (others include the dragon and the tortoise) and symbolizes good fortune and longevity because of its fabled life span of a thousand years. The crane is a favorite subject of the tradition of origami or paper folding. An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane. After World War II, the crane came to symbolize peace and the innocent victims of war through the story of schoolgirl Sadako Sasaki and her thousand origami cranes. Suffering from leukemia as a result of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and knowing she was dying, she undertook to make a thousand origami cranes before her death at the age of 12. After her death, she became internationally recognized as a symbol of the innocent victims of war and remains a heroine to many Japanese girls. In China, the red-crowned crane is often featured in myths and legends. In Taoism, the red-crowned crane is a symbol of longevity and immortality. In art and literature, immortals are often depicted riding on cranes. A mortal who attains immortality is similarly carried off by a crane. Reflecting this association, red-crowned cranes are called xian he literally: "fairy crane" or "crane of the immortals"). The red-crowned crane is also a symbol of nobility. Depictions of the crane have been found in Shang Dynasty tombs and Zhou Dynasty ceremonial bronzeware. A common theme in later Chinese art is the reclusive scholar who cultivates bamboo and keeps cranes. Some literati even reared cranes and trained them to dance to guqin music. Because of its importance in Chinese culture, the red-crowned crane was selected by the National Forestry Bureau of the People's Republic of China as a candidate for the title of national animal of China. This decision was deferred due to the red-crowned crane's Latin name translation as "Japanese crane". In Japan, this crane is known as the tancho zuru and is said to live for 1,000 years. A pair of red-crowned cranes were used in the design for the Series D 1000 yen note (reverse side). In the Ainu language, the red-crowned crane is known as sarurun kamuy or marsh kamuy. At Tsurui they are one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan. Cranes are said to grant favours in return for acts of sacrifice, as in Tsuru no Ongaeshi ("crane's return of a favor"). Given its reputation, Jerry Huff, an American branding expert, recommended it as the international logo of Japan Airlines, after seeing a representation of it in a gallery of samurai crests. Huff wrote “I had faith that it was the perfect symbol for Japan Air Lines. I found that the Crane myth was all positive — it mates for life (loyalty), and flies high for miles without tiring (strength.)”. Shakespeare has no mentions of cranes, but
he probably knew, that they were a customary dish at great entertainments in the reign of King Henry VIII (1491–1547).
***
The wagtails form the passerine bird genus Motacilla. The forest wagtail belongs to the monotypic genus Dendronanthus which is closely related to Motacilla and sometimes included herein. Their most easily recognized common trait is a long tail, nearly as long again as the body, which they continuously flick up and down as they move across the ground. This behavior is the base for their generic English name. In Japanese they are referred to as sekirei. Japanese Wagtails are an endemic species to Japan. They breed in Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Sado Island and Oki Island. However, they are winter visitors in Tsushima Island, Yakushima Island, the Izu Islands, Amami Oshima Island and the Korean Peninsula (Ornithological Society of Japan 2000).
In Greek mythology, wagtails were seen as a gift from Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and the wagtail was a symbol of love. Wagtails also play a small but significant role in Japanese classic mythology. According to the traditional creation myth, a pair of kami deities was dispatched from the Celestial Realm to found a new world here on earth. Arriving on a portal bridge, the male deity Izanagi stirred the primeval chaotic sea with his magical spear. Brine dripping from the spear coalesced to form the first island. Izanagi and his mate, Izanami, then erected a pillar, around which they danced in anticipation of the task of giving birth to the land. When all was ready, however, they found that being a bit naive and inexperienced, they didn’t actually know just how a man and a woman should go about producing offspring. Fortunately, just at that crucial moment, a pair of mating wagtails happened by. Izanagi and Izanami simply watched what they were doing and tried it out for themselves. The result was the land we now call Japan.” In Shakespeare's "King Lear " Kent is saying:
"Thou whoreson zed, thou unnecessary letter!— My lord, if you will give me leave, I will tread this unbolted villain into mortar and daub the wall of a jakes with him.— Spare my gray beard, you wagtail? ".
***
Ermine (Mustela erminea), also called stoat, short-tailed weasel, or Bonaparte weasel, distinguished by its larger size and longer tail with a prominent black tip. In Japan, it is present in central mountains (northern and central Japan Alps) to northern part of Honshu (primarily above 1,200 m) and Hokkaido. Its vertical range is from sea level to 3,000 m. The name ermine is often, but not always, used for the animal in its pure white winter coat, or the fur thereof. Ermine luxury fur was used by Catholic monarchs in the 15th century, who sometimes used it as the mozzetta cape. It was also used in capes on images such as the Infant Jesus of Prague. Stoat skins are prized by the fur trade, especially in winter coat, and used to trim coats and stoles. In Europe these furs are a symbol of royalty and high status; the ceremonial robes of members of the UK House of Lords and the academic hoods of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge are traditionally trimmed with ermine. Prelates of the Catholic Church still wear ecclesiastical garments featuring ermine (a sign of their status equal to that of the nobility). The ermine, a stoat in its winter coat, was a traditional symbol of purity because it was believed an ermine would face death rather than soil its white coat. Cecilia Gallerani is depicted holding an ermine in her portrait,"Lady with an Ermine", by Leonardo da Vinci to underline her chastity. Henry Peacham's (English poet born 1578, d. in or after 1644) poem " Emblem 75 ", which depicts an ermine being pursued by a hunter and two hounds, is entitled "Cui candor morte redemptus" ("Purity bought with his own death"). Peacham goes on to preach that men and women should follow the example of the ermine and keep their minds and consciences as pure as the legendary ermine keeps its fur. The attire of Queen Anne when she went in procession from the Tower to Westminster on the day before her coronation is described by William Shakespeare as following : "She wore a surcoat of white cloth of tissue, and a mantle of the same, furred with ermine". In Folk-lore of Shakespeare, by T.F. Thiselton Dyer, [1883] he states: " To meet a weasel was formerly considered a bad omen. That may be a tacit allusion to this superstition in "Lucrece":
"Night wandering weasels shriek to see him there;
They fright him, yet he still pursues his fear".
Rock 14
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The cicadas are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. It is divided into the Tettigarctidae, with two species in Australia, and Cicadidae, with more than 1,300 species described from around the world; many undescribed species remain. Cicadas have prominent eyes set wide apart, short antennae, and membranous front wings. They have an exceptionally loud song, produced not by stridulation, but by vibrating drumlike tymbals rapidly. The earliest known fossil Cicadomorpha appeared in the Upper Permian period; extant species occur all around the world in temperate to tropical climates. They typically live in trees, feeding on sap, and laying their eggs in a slit in the bark. Most cicadas are cryptic, singing at night to avoid predators. Cicadas have been featured in literature since the time of Homer's Iliad, and as motifs in art from the Chinese Shang dynasty. They have been used in myths and folklore to represent carefree living and immortality. Cicadas are eaten in various countries, including China, where the nymphs are served deep-fried in Shandong cuisine. In an Ancient Greek myth, Tithonus eventually turns into a cicada after being granted immortality, but not eternal youth, by Zeus. The Greeks also used a cicada sitting on a harp as emblematic of music. The cicada symbolises rebirth and immortality in Chinese tradition. In the Chinese essay "Thirty-Six Stratagems", the phrase "to shed the golden cicada skin": poetic name for using a decoy (leaving the exuviae) to fool enemies. In the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West (16th century), the protagonist Priest of Tang was named the Golden Cicada. In Japan, the cicada is associated with the summer season. According to Lafcadio Hearn, the song of Meimuna opalifera, called "tsuku-tsuku boshi", is said to indicate the end of summer, and it is called so because of its particular call.
***
The Japanese bush warbler (Horornis diphone), known in Japanese as uguisu is an Asian passerine bird more often heard than seen. Its distinctive breeding call can be heard throughout much of Japan from the start of spring.
The propensity of the Japanese bush warbler to sing has led to the birds being kept as cage birds. Robert Young records that to encourage singing the cages of kept birds were covered with a wooden box with a small paper window that allowed only subdued light in. Along with the return of the barn swallow the bush warbler's call is viewed by Japanese as a herald of springtime. It is one of the favorite motifs of Japanese poetry, featured in many poems including those in Man'yoshu or Kokin Wakashu. In haiku and renga, uguisu is one of the kigo which signify the early spring. In poetry the bird is associated with the ume blossom, and appears with ume on hanafuda playing cards. There is also a popular Japanese sweet named Uguisu-boru (Uguisu Balls) which consists of brown and white balls meant to resemble ume flower buds. However, the distinctive song is not usually heard until later in spring, well after the ume blossoms have faded. In haiku the bird with this song is known as sasako, and the song is called sasanaki. The beauty of its song led to the English name Japanese Nightingale, although the Japanese bush warbler does not sing at night as the European nightingale does. This name is no longer commonly used. In Japanese architecture there is a type of floor known as "uguisubari", which is generally translated into English as "nightingale floor". These floors have squeaking floorboards that resemble the Japanese bush warbler's low chirping, and are meant to be so designed to warn sleepers of the approach of ninja. Examples can be seen at Eikan-do temple, Nijo Castle and Chion-in temple in Kyoto. The nightingale's droppings contain an enzyme that has been used for a long time as a skin whitening agent and to remove fine wrinkles. It is sometimes sold as "uguisu powder". The droppings are also used to remove stains from kimono.
***
The Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica; Japanese: nihon'unagi is a species of anguillid eel found in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, as well as the northern Philippines. Like all the eels of the genus Anguilla and the family Anguillidae, it is catadromous, meaning it spawns in the sea, but lives parts of its life in fresh water. The spawning area of this species is in the North Equatorial Current in the western North Pacific to the west of the Mariana Islands. Adult Japanese eels migrate thousands of kilometers from freshwater rivers in East Asia to their spawning area without feeding. The larvae are called leptocephali and are carried westward by the North Equatorial Current and then northward by the Kuroshio Current to East Asia, where they live in rivers, lakes, and estuaries. The Japanese eel is an important food fish in East Asia, where it is raised in aquaculture ponds in most countries in the region. In Japan, where they are called unagi, they are an important part of the food culture, with many restaurants serving grilled eel, which is called kabayaki. Eels also have uses in Chinese medicine. Unagi is the Japanese word for freshwater eel, especially the Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica (not to be confused its saltwater cousin, which is called anago). The best are caught wild rather than bred in eel farms, with the ideal size between 30 and 50 cm. Fancy unagi restaurants keep tanks full of live eels, and they don't begin preparing your eel until after you've ordered. It is said that unagi has been consumed in Japan for thousands of years. Because it is rich in protein, vitamins A and E, and so on, some people believe that unagi gives them stamina. For this reason, Japanese people eat the eel most frequently during the hottest time of the year in Japan. It is, therefore, a Japanese custom to eat unagi on Doyo-no-ushinohi (the Day of the Ox during the Doyo period) in summer sometime between mid-July and the early part of August. In William Shakespeare's tragedy "King Lear" the
Bard puts in the mouth of the FOOL following lines:
"That’s right, uncle, talk to your heart, like the housewife who yelled at the eels she was putting in her pie. She hit 'em on the head with a stick and shouted, “Down, you naughty things, down!” That was the woman whose brother wanted to be nice to his horse and buttered its hay".
The point of the story is that the housewife acts too late. She should have killed the eels before putting them into the pie. Horses won’t eat greasy hay, so buttering hay is another example of foolishness.
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The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca, literally "black and white cat-foot"; Chinese: pinyin: literally "big bear cat" also known as panda bear or simply panda, is a bear native to south central China. It is easily recognized by the large, distinctive black patches around its eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes used to distinguish it from the unrelated red panda. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the giant panda's diet is over 99% bamboo. Giant pandas in the wild will occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents or carrion. In captivity, they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food. The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan province, but also in neighbouring Shaanxi and Gansu. As a result of farming, deforestation, and other development, the giant panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived. The giant panda is a conservation reliant vulnerable species. A 2007 report showed 239 pandas living in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country. While the dragon has often served as China's national symbol, internationally the giant panda appears at least as commonly. As such, it is becoming widely used within China in international contexts, for example as one of the five Fuwa mascots of the Beijing Olympics. In the past, pandas were thought to be rare and noble creatures – the Empress Dowager Bo was buried with a panda skull in her vault. The grandson of Emperor Taizong of Tang is said to have given Japan two pandas and a sheet of panda skin as a sign of goodwill. Unlike many other animals in Ancient China, pandas were rarely thought to have medical uses. The few known uses include the Sichuan tribal peoples' use of panda urine to melt accidentally swallowed needles, and the use of panda pelts to control menses as described in the Qin Dynasty encyclopedia Erya. The creature named mo mentioned in some ancient books has been interpreted as giant panda. The dictionary Shuowen Jiezi (Eastern Han Dynasty) says that the mo, from Shu (Sichuan), is bear-like, but yellow-and-black, although the older Erya describes mo simply as a "white leopard". The interpretation of the legendary fierce creature pixiu as referring to the giant panda is also common. During the reign of the Yongle Emperor (early 15th century), his relative from Kaifeng sent him a captured zouyu , and another zouyu was sighted in Shandong. Zouyu is a legendary "righteous" animal, which, similarly to a qilin, only appears during the rule of a benevolent and sincere monarch. It is said to be fierce as a tiger, but gentle and strictly vegetarian, and described in some books as a white tiger with black spots. Puzzled about the real zoological identity of the creature captured during the Yongle era, J.J.L. Duyvendak exclaims, "Can it possibly have been a Pandah ?" The comparative obscurity of the giant panda throughout most of China's history is illustrated by the fact that, despite there being a number of depictions of bears in Chinese art starting from its most ancient times, and the bamboo being one of the favorite subjects for Chinese painters, there are no known pre-20th-century artistic representations of giant pandas. In Folk-lore of Shakespeare, its author T.F. Thiselton Dyer, [1883] states: " A favourite amusement with our ancestors was bear-baiting. As early as the reign of Henry II. the baiting of bears by dogs was a popular game in London ( often performed in the Swan Theater ), whilst at a later period "a royal bear-ward" was an officer regularly attached to the royal household. In " Henry VI.", this personage is alluded to by Clifford, who says:
"Are these thy bears? We'll bait thy bears to death,
And manacle the bear-ward in their chains,
If thou darest bring them to the baiting place".
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The Horse-Headed Bato Kannon - Protector of Animals and particularly of horses was and still is very popular in Japan. Until recently, horses were believed to have arrived to Japan from the Asian continent as an import from the 5th century during the Kofun era and that horses were not found locally before then on Japanese Islands – because the absence of horses was noted in various Chinese records. Regarding Japanese horses’ origins: Studies show Mongolian horses possess all the alleles found in Japanese horses – which is taken to mean that Mongolian horses are related to, and descended from the ancestral populations of Japanese horses. Which tends to support the historical fact that native horses on the Asian continent were frequently transported to Japan through the Korean peninsula. Nihonshoki chronicle records that the king of Silla, upon being defeated by Empress Jingu, presented the horse to her as a gift. The introduction of mounted cavalry and advanced military strategies has been attributed to this act. Also, according to both the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, during Emperor Suijin’s reign, Geunchogo of Paekche presented stallions and broodmares with horse trainers to the Japanese emperor. Horses are known to have great speed, thus creating a quickening within the mind and soul of the owner. This allows the owner to evolve spiritually and mentally at a much faster or quickened rate. In the New Testament, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse include one seated on a white horse and one on a pale horse – the "white" horse carried the rider Conquest (traditionally, Pestilence) while the "pale" horse carried the rider, Death. However, the Greek word chloros, translated as pale, is often interpreted as sickly green or ashen grey rather than white. Later in the Book of Revelation, Christ rides a white horse out of heaven at the head of the armies of heaven to judge and make war upon the earth. Two Christian saints are associated with white steeds: Saint James, as patron saint of Spain, rides a white horse in his martial aspect. Saint George, the patron saint of horsemen among other things, also rides a white horse. Gesta Francorum contains a description of the First Crusade, where soldiers fighting at Antioch claimed to have been heartened by a vision of St. George and white horses during the battle: " There came out from the mountains, also, countless armies with white horses, whose standards were all white. And so, when our leaders saw this army, they ... recognised the aid of Christ, whose leaders were St. George, Mercurius, and Demetrius ". Mother Mary is largely unknown in the Buddhist world, the only exception perhaps being Maria Kannon. The latter is a hybrid of Mother Mary and the Bodhisattva of love and compassion whom the Japanese call Kannon, the Chinese Kuan Yin, the Tibetans Chenresig and the Indians Avalokiteshvara. Because Mother Mary and Kannon have so much in common, persecuted Japanese Christians of past centuries secretly worshipped Jesus and Mary in the form of Maria-Kannon with child. In Japan, numerous historical figures are considered emanations of Kannon, including Prince Shotoku Taishi (Japan’s first great patron of Buddhism), Daruma (the founder of Zen Buddhism), and Chujo Hime (a Buddhist nun regarded as one of Japan’s greatest early embroidery artists). To Tibetans, the current Dalai Lama is an incarnation of Kannon. The powerful protector deity Bishamonten (the lord of the north, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, and one of Japan’s Seven Lucky Gods) is also considered a manifestation of Kannon. The Horse-Headed Bato Kannon is a Protector of Animals. Bato Kannon appears in the Mahavairocana Sutra composed sometime in the 6th / 7th century AD) and other tantric texts. He is thus a member of the esoteric pantheon. Bato is also one of the Six Kannon. In this latter role, Bato protects those reborn in the animal realm, a realm characterized by stupidity and servitude. Effigies of the Six Kannon began appearing in Japan in the early-mid 10th century onward and were prayed to for the welfare of the dead. The scriptural basis for the six can be traced back to a late 6th-century Tendai text from China, although Bato was not part of the original six but rather inserted some four centuries later. Bato Kannon is also one of the Myo-o, the warlike and wrathful deities of Esoteric Buddhism. In this role, the deity is known as Bato Myo-o and included in a grouping known as the Hachidai Myo-o (lit. Eight Great Myo-o ). In Japan, farmers pray to Bato Kannon for the safety and preservation of their horses and cattle. Bato Kannon is not only said to protect dumb animals, particularly those who labor for mankind, but extends those powers to protecting their spirits and bringing them ease and a happier life than they experienced while on earth. (Source: Myths and Legends of Japan, by F. Hadland Davis, 1913). In Folk-lore of Shakespeare, by T.F. Thiselton Dyer, [1883] he writes: " Although Shakespeare's allusions to the horse are most extensive, yet he has said little of the many widespread superstitions, legends, and traditional tales that have been associated from the earliest times with this brave and intellectual animal. Indeed, even now-a-days, both in our own country and abroad, many a fairy tale is told and credited by the peasantry, in which the horse occupies a prominent place. It seems to have been a common notion that, at night time, fairies in their nocturnal revels played various pranks with horses, often entangling in a thousand knots their hair—a superstition to which we referred in our chapter on Fairies, where Mercutio, in "Romeo and Juliet," says:
"This is that very Mab
That plats the manes of horses in the night,
And bakes the elf-locks in foul sluttish hairs,
Which once entangled much misfortune bodes".
In Act-V, Scene-IV of William Shakespeare’s play, " Richard III " the King yells out loudly this famous phrase, “A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!”.
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Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) (Greek: brachys = short, ura = tail), usually entirely hidden under the thorax. They live in all the world's oceans, in fresh water, and on land, are generally covered with a thick exoskeleton and have a single pair of claws. Many other animals with similar names – such as hermit crabs, king crabs, porcelain crabs, horseshoe crabs, and crab lice – are not true crabs. Crabs are generally covered with a thick exoskeleton, composed primarily of calcium carbonate, and armed with a single pair of chelae (claws). Crabs are found in all of the world's oceans, while many crabs live in fresh water and on land, particularly in tropical regions. Crabs vary in size from the pea crab, a few millimetres wide, to the Japanese spider crab, with a leg span of up to 4 metres (13 ft). About 850 species of crab are freshwater, terrestrial or semi-terrestrial species; they are found throughout the world's tropical and semi-tropical regions. They were previously thought to be a monophyletic group, but are now believed to represent at least two distinct lineages, one in the Old World and one in the New World. Both the constellation Cancer and the astrological sign Cancer are named after the crab, and depicted as a crab. William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse drew the Crab Nebula in 1848 and noticed its similarity to the animal; the Crab pulsar lies at the centre of the nebula. The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped nature, especially the sea, and often depicted crabs in their art. In Greek mythology, Karkinos was a crab that came to the aid of the Lernaean Hydra as it battled Heracles. One of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, The Crab that Played with the Sea, tells the story of a gigantic crab who made the waters of the sea go up and down, like the tides. Heikegani (Heikeopsis japonica) is a species of crab native to Japan, with a shell that bears a pattern resembling a human face which many believed to be the face of an angry samurai hence the nickname Samurai Crab. It is locally believed that these crabs are reincarnations of the spirits of the Heike warriors defeated at the Battle of Dan-no-ura as told in The Tale of the Heike. The Battle of Dan-no-ura was preceded by an immense struggle between the imperial rulers of Japan, the Taira clan (later known as Heike), who the Heikegani crabs are named after, and the Minamoto clan (Genji), who were fighting for control of the throne at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180-1185). On 24 the April, 1185 AD, the two powerful Samurai clans fought to the death on the Dan-no-ura bay of Japan’s Inland Sea. The ruling Taira clan (Heike), was led by their child-Emperor, Antoku, and his grandmother. The Heike had ruled for many decades, but now, massively outnumbered, they faced defeat at the hands of the Minamoto. During the battle, a member of the royal household took the seven-year-old Emperor Antoku and plunged with him into the water in the Shimonoseki Straits, drowning the child emperor, rather than allowing him to be captured by the opposing forces. His mother and grandmother followed him in their grief. Antoku came to be worshipped as Mizu-no-kami ("god of water”). This crucial battle was a cultural and political turning point in Japanese history: Minamoto Yoritomo became the first Shogun, or military ruler, of Japan. Dan-no-ura marked the beginning of seven centuries, in which Japan was ruled by warriors and Shoguns instead of Emperors and aristocrats. According to the old tradition crabs with shells resembling Samurai are thrown back to the sea by fishermen out of respect for the Heike warriors, while those not resembling Samurai are eaten, giving the former a greater chance of reproducing. Thus, the more closely the crabs resemble a samurai face, the more likely they would be spared and thrown back.
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Yamata no Orochi ( "8-branched giant snake") was an 8-headed and 8-tailed dragon slain by the God of Wind and Sea Susanoo no Mikoto. A dragon is a mythological representation of a reptile. In antiquity, dragons were mostly envisaged as serpents, but since the Middle Ages, it has become common to depict them with legs, resembling a lizard. Dragons are usually shown in modern times with a body like a huge lizard, or a snake with two pairs of lizard-type legs, and able to emit fire from their mouths. The European dragon has bat-like wings growing from its back. A dragon-like creature with wings but only a single pair of legs is known as a wyvern. Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China, Korea and India. Like these other Asian dragons, most Japanese ones are water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet. According to the ancient legend Susanoo no Mikoto descended from Heaven and proceeded to the head-waters of the River Hi, in the province of Idzumo. At this time some chopsticks came floating down the stream. So Susanoo no Mikoto, thinking that there must be people at the head-waters of the river, went up it in quest of them, when he came upon an old man and an old woman, who had a young girl between them, and were weeping. Susanoo no Mikoto asked them, saying:-"Who are you, and why do you lament thus?" The answer was:-"I am an Earthly Deity, and my name is Ashi-nadzuchi. My wife's name is Te-nadzuchi. This girl is our daughter, and her name is Kushi-nada-hime. The reason of our weeping is that formerly we had eight children, daughters. But they have been devoured year after year by an eight-forked serpent and now the time approaches for this girl to be devoured. There is no means of escape for her, and therefore do we grieve.” Susanoo no Mikoto said: "If that is so, wilt thou give me thy daughter?" He replied, and said: "I will comply with thy behest and give her to thee." Therefore Susanoo no Mikoto on the spot changed Kushi-nada-hime into a many-toothed close-comb which he stuck in the august knot of his hair. Then he made Ashi-nadzuchi and Te-nadzuchi to brew eight-fold sake, to make eight cupboards, in each of them to set a tub filled with sake, and so to await its coming. When the time came, the serpent actually appeared. It had an eight-forked head and an eight-forked tail; its eyes were red, like the winter-cherry; and on its back firs and cypresses were growing. As it crawled it extended over a space of eight hills and eight valleys. Now when it came and found the sake, each head drank up one tub, and it became drunken and fell asleep. Then Susanoo no Mikoto drew the ten-span sword which he wore, and chopped the serpent into small pieces. When he came to the tail, the edge of his sword was slightly notched, and he therefore split open the tail and examined it. In the inside there was a sword. This is the sword which is called Kusa-nagi no tsurugi. This sword from the dragon's tail, the Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi ("Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven") or the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi ("Grasscutter Sword"), was presented by Susanoo to Amaterasu as a reconciliation gift. According to legends, she bequeathed it to her descendant Ninigi along with the Yata no Kagami mirror and Yasakani no Magatama jewel or orb. This sacred sword, mirror and jewel collectively became the three Imperial Regalia of Japan. Japanese dragons are associated with Shinto shrines as well as Buddhist temples. Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima or Itsukushima Island in Japan's Inland Sea was believed to be the abode of the sea-god Ryujin's daughter. According to the Gukansho and The Tale of Heike (Heinrich 1997:74-75), the sea-dragon empowered Emperor Antoku to ascend the throne because his father Taira no Kiyomori offered prayers at Itsukushima and declared it his ancestral shrine. When Antoku drowned himself after being defeated in the 1185 Battle of Dan-no-ura, he lost the imperial Kusanagi sword (which legendarily came from the tail of the Yamata no Orochi dragon) back into the sea. In another version, divers found the sword, and it is said to be preserved at Atsuta Shrine. The great earthquake of 1185 was attributed to vengeful Heike spirits, specifically the dragon powers of Antoku.
William Shakespeare was born and died on St. George Day ( April 23rd).
In the medieval romances, the lance ( spear ) with which Saint George slew the dragon was called Ascalon after the Levantine city of Ashkelon, today in Israel. Some evidence links the legend back to very old Egyptian and Phoenician sources in a late antique statue of Horus fighting a "dragon". This ties the legendary George and to some extent, the historical George, to various ancient sources using mythological and linguistic arguments. This iconography of the horseman with spear overcoming evil was widespread throughout the Christian period. In Folk-lore of Shakespeare, Mr. T.F. Thiselton Dyer, [1883] states:
"As the type and embodiment of the spirit of evil, the dragon has been made the subject of an extensive legendary lore. The well-known myth of "St George and the Dragon," which may be regarded as a grand allegory representing the hideous and powerful monster against whom the Christian soldier is called to fight, has exercised a remarkable influence for good in times past, over half-instructed people. It has been truly remarked that "the dullest mind and hardest heart could not fail to learn from it something of the hatefulness of evil, the beauty of self-sacrifice, and the all-conquering might of truth." This graceful conception is alluded to by Shakespeare in his "King John" , where, according to a long established custom, it is made a subject for sign-painting:
"St George that swinged the dragon, and e’er since,
Sits on his horseback at mine hostess’ door,
Teach us some fence".
Bestiary Index Final
© Copyright: Юрий Слободенюк, 2016
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