Cranes

Utagawa Hiroshige

Able to fly between heaven and earth, the crane represents peace and also longevity, and is said to be able to live a thousand years (in reality, the crane lives 60 years - not too shabby!).  According to Japanese belief, if you fold a thousand origami cranes over the course of a year, your dreams will come true.  Making origami cranes is something that most Japanese know how to do, as they learn when they are little.  Today, the country's space program has prospective astronauts fold cranes as part of the application process, in order to gauge their precision.

While the mythical phoenix is an imperial symbol, and is known as the king of Birds, it's not Japan's most iconic feathered friend.  That honor goes to the Japanese red-crowned crane, which is associated with the imperial household and even used in commercial imagery.  Japan Airlines, for example, uses a red crane as it's logo.  Red, of course, is closely associated with the sun and Japan itself, and there's a red "crown" on this crane's head, hence the name.

There really is no better bird to sum up Japanese sensibilities and symbols than the red-crowned crane.  Understandably, in irezumi it is often paired with the red sun, as well as with the tortoise, another symbol of longevity.  In Japanese, there is a saying "Tauru wa sen new, came wa man new" ("A crane lives a thousand years, a turtle lives ten thousand years").  Putting both together is an auspicious way to represent longevity.  The crane can be paired with the evergreen pine or the bamboo, both of which also represent longevity and transcend the seasons.  The crane is also symbol of fidelity, since it mates for life and performs elaborate "dances" when courting a mate.