Quiz for ornithologists

[Bugyotsuji]

What bird is this? Please give your reasons.

(I can think of at least three reasons.) 

 

Level of difficulty, medium.

 

Photo follows, with luck.

 

[Franco D]

Cormorant, fits theme. 

[Bugyotsuji]

1 hour ago, Franco D said:

Cormorant, fits theme. 

For example?

[BIG]

https://de.wikipedia...hina-6July2005-2.jpg

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Reasons coming up...

[robinalexander]

Beak looks too long for Cormorant ....working on it.

[lonely panet]

Shag or cormorant, There a water bird, they feed on water based animals like fish and frogs and live only around water. Both sea and fresh water.

 

Its pearched on a ore, worming itself in the sun buy spreading its wings to soak up as much heat to heat up its core temp

[Bugyotsuji]

Now we're talking! 

The ukai master himslef is absent, so this is rusu-moyo, but the *oar suggests to us the boat and water, and the spread wings points to cormorants which are not as buoyant as other water birds, swimmimg half-submerged, and needing to dry their plumage whenever possible. The rope tied to its leg was the final clue for me, although they were also tied round the neck to stop them swallowing the fish they caught.

 

The beak is extra long, yes, and on that point I must agree with Robin above, and beg artistic licence/license on behalf of the unknown artisan. Some photos of cormorants with their necks stretched out give an overall impression of a longer head and beak, but in reality they are hooked down at the tip, not straight.

 

There were two types of oars, this paddle kind (Kai) probably fashioned into a bokken by Miyamoto Musashi, and a long articulated one for rocking and powering from the stern (Ro).

艪 ro

櫂 kai

[robinalexander]

I'm working on Japanese Heron but I'll get back to you.

[robinalexander]

Ok, got it Piers.

 

But I liked the accompanying symbolism of herons all the same.

 

Nice.

 

What did herons symbolize in Japanese art? In Japanese culture, herons are valued for being birds who can move across three elements, making them divine creatures. They are most prevalent in woodblock prints, drawing upon the “kacho-e” technique.

[Bugyotsuji]

Oh, don't get me wrong, Robin, I love all varieties of Japanese herons and egrets, seeing them daily in the fields and rivers around here. In fact they seem to be quite comfortable standing in close vicinity with sunbathing cormorants, both taking off in fright together if you try and photograph either of them.

 

The wick weights for Japanese oil lamps tend to be herons, I guess, although they could be cranes or storks, standing in a shallow pool of oil, much as they would be seen in the ponds, rivers or paddy fields.

 

I like your divine story, and birds/flowers prints, so it must have been particularly shocking when hunters killed them as pests!

[Kurikata]

Similarities?

[Franco D]

9 hours ago, robinalexander said:

Beak looks too long for Cormorant

 

There are fittings makers, and then there are artists that make fittings. It is not uncommon for the first to leave us with questions and even sometimes puzzled. Whereas the second can leave us in amazement and wonder. 

Perhaps this cormorant was unfortunate enough to have its beak caught in a vice.

 

Regards,

[Bugyotsuji]

7 hours ago, Franco D said:

 

There are fittings makers, and then there are artists that make fittings. It is not uncommon for the first to leave us with questions and even sometimes puzzled. Whereas the second can leave us in amazement and wonder. 

Perhaps this cormorant was unfortunate enough to have its beak caught in a vice.

 

Regards,

Both of them!

[Franco D]

5 hours ago, Bugyotsuji said:

Both of them!

 

Do you mean both fittings makers and artists that make fittings?

I'm assuming so.

 

Regards,

Edited December 24, 2023 by Franco D
clarification

[Guest Simon R]

Agree with cormorant, used for fishing.

[Bugyotsuji]

1 hour ago, Franco D said:

 

Do you mean both fittings makers and artists that make fittings?

I'm assuming so.

 

Regards,

No, I like your distinction, but I mean both depictions above show cormorants with straight beaks (caught in vices).

[Bugyotsuji]

Gathered for ritual purifications?

One or two of these look like flamingoes!

 

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Just out of curiosity, I made up a description in Japanese, 櫂に鵜 Kai ni U (cormorant on oar), started running searches for the theme, and under Kai ni U Zu図 (depictions of cormorants on oars), discovered some menuki. What was doubly interesting was a painting of Miyamoto Musashi that also came up on the same page.

 

Well, we all know the connection with the oar which he carved into a bokken/bokuto for the famous battle against Sasaki Kojiro at Ganryujima, but why did he connect here? Then I discovered that Miyamoto Musashi did many ink paintings of cormorants, and the circle was complete. oar, cormorant, = water and boat, = Musashi.

 

Can we not now say that this theme, repeated in the menuki and kozuka, intimates Miyamoto Musashi and the battle at Ganryujima?

 

Menuki, from web.

 

Painting of cormorant by Miyamoto Musashi, postcard, from web. (For educational purposes.)

 

 

[Toryu2020]

I would say a Musashi connection would be a real stretch - there is no real evidence he ever carved an oar, thats a tale from the book which came long after these kodogu...

mho

-t

 

PS Commorants are used in fresh water and would not be associated with Ganryujima.

[Bugyotsuji]

Never thought too deeply about the oar story and the various timelines. I have a couple of tsuba with an oar motif and was beginning to wonder if someone was putting the oar in to make me a collector. (?)

Musashi did depict cormorants repeatedly in his paintings, though. I wonder if he sometimes saw himself as a cormorant.

[Spartancrest]

12 hours ago, Bugyotsuji said:

I wonder if he sometimes saw himself as a cormorant.

Well he probably ate a lot of fish! 

[Bugyotsuji]

Tom, I was by the same Seto Inland Sea today watching the scenery when a cormorant flew over and back again, and then I remembered those famous evolved cormorants on the Galápagos Islands too. 

 

So, if not strictly a seabird, then AC/DC at the very least?