Discussion

Cultural Significance

Cranes and pine trees both have special significance in Japanese culture. Cranes represent honor, good fortune, loyalty, and longevity. Pines represent longevity, good fortune and steadfastness. The two combined reinforce each other's positive attributes--especially longevity. Numerous artworks depict the two together.

Japanese Crane (Grus japonensis)

Alternate names for the Japanese crane (tsuru) are red crowned crane and Manchurian crane. The red crown name comes from a bald patch on the top of their heads that turns especially red during mating season. Both males and females have it.

Most of the Japanese crane's feathers are white, but there are black patches, too. From many pictures of Japanese cranes, one would think that one of the black areas was the tail.

That is not so, however. The tail is white. The black in the photo above comes from the wings. This flying crane photo helps make that clear.

A common bit of folklore in Japan is that cranes live 1,000 years. Japanese cranes do live extraordinarily long lives for birds, but 30 to 40 years in the wild is more typical. 

The number 1,000 associated with cranes for real comes from a true story of a girl named Sadako who was dying of radiation poisoning after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. She believed that she would become well and live if she could fold 1,000 origami paper cranes. She didn't make it, but her story lives on. Every year, school children throughout Japan visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on field trips and bring with them bags full of paper cranes in Sadako's honor. Many millions of paper cranes are left at the Children's Peace Monument every year.

Duel Japanese cranes grace the back side of Japan's Series D 1000-yen note, first issued in 1984.

Adult Japanese cranes are around 5 feet tall and have a wingspan of 7 to 8 feet. The typical body weight ranges from 11 to 23 lbs. They are omnivorous, with a diet consisting of rice, carrots, nuts, buckwheat, and a variety of water plants, supplemented by fish, amphibians, snails, and crabs.

Cranes are monogamous and mate for life. All mating and egg laying occurs in April through early May. Most clutches have two eggs, though instances of one or three eggs have been found. There is a sort of dance they engage in prior to coupling that many think of as a mating dance, though these dances can occur any time of the year. 

Their size, wickedly sharp beaks, and powerful kicks make Japanese cranes formidable foes of potential predators. While they recognize and tolerate the presence of animals that aren't a threat to their eggs and young, they quickly drive off those that are threats like the eagle below. Pairs of cranes can drive off larger predators like grey wolves and large dogs.

Japanese Pine Trees

March 11, 2011, a huge earthquake off the east coast of Japan sent a massively destructive tsunami into Japan's coastal areas. That was the event that triggered the Fukushima nuclear plant incident. One of the many other areas hard hit was the picturesque shoreline around the town of Rikuzentakata with its adjoining forest of 70,000 pine trees. When the waters receded, there was 1 pine tree left standing. It quickly became known throughout Japan as the Miracle Pine Tree for its resilience against overwhelming odds.

The Miracle Pine Tree succumbed 18 months later to the huge amounts of salt water that had been absorbed into the soil. Molds were made of the tree to create a monument that now stands where the tree once stood, a permanent symbol of Japan's ability to rebuild after disaster and move forward.

A lot of symbolism is embodied in Japan's pine trees. The literal meaning of the Japanese name for pine trees, matsu, is “waiting for a god’s soul to descend from heaven.” Cherry tree blossoms are the most revered in Japan among flowering plants, but among non-flowering plants, pine trees are the most favored because of their evergreen nature and their association with Shinto gods. They represent longevity and immortality

Ornaments made of pine, bamboo, and plum tree sprigs called kadomatsu are placed by the entrances of homes and other buildings on the first day of the New Year. Kadomatsu are believed to bring blessings from the family’s ancestors, and temporarily house visiting toshigami, one type of deity.

Pines were always planted in the forecourts (shinden) of aristocratic homes in Japan's Heian period (794 to 1185).

Pines help to shape the structure of Japanese gardens. Sakuteiki, probably the oldest gardening book ever written (mid to late 11th century) recommends planting pines around lakes and islets to invoke the idea of a maritime landscape. The example below is from the Himeji Castle garden in Hyōgo Prefecture in Japan.

Two pine trees native to Japan are the Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii) and the Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora). Black pines favor coastal areas and red pines are native to low mountains and hillsides. Both have two needles per sheath. They are also large trees, growing to as much as 60 feet tall in the wild. Both take well to pruning and shaping, however, and can be kept much smaller. The photos above and below show examples.

The San Diego Zoo has its own small Japanese style garden not far from the zoo's entrance. Look carefully, and you can find its own cranes and pine trees.

Artwork

With the significance of both cranes and pine trees to Japanese culture, it isn't surprising to find the two represented together in artwork. This first photo isn't of a painting, however.

Bonsai

This carefully sculped bonsai is a Japanese Black Pine.

Sesshū Tōyō (c. 1420 – 1506)

Sesshū, a Zen monk, was already a respected artist when he traveled to China as part of a Japanese envoy in 1467. Returning to Japan after 3 years in China, his artwork had acquired a distinct Chinese influence. However, Sesshū blended Japanese and Chinese styles into a unique style of his own. His almost exclusive use of black ink (sumi) allowed him to focus on the essential character of his subjects. Sesshū's influence on later Japanese art is so widespread that several Japanese schools of art claim him as their founder. The obvious subject of Sesshū's painting below is the dramatic landscape, but cranes and pine trees are there, too.

Ogata Kōrin (1658 – 1716)

Kōrin was one of the founders of the Rinpa school of art along with Tawaraya Sōtatsu (c. 1570 – c. 1640) and Hon'ami Kōetsu (1558 – 1637). Rinpa wasn't a school in the formal sense the way that the Kanō school was (see below), but it did establish a style of its own that was admired and copied by various artists for centuries. Some argue that Kōrin was the greatest artist in Japanese history. The painting below is part of a pair of byōbu titled Cranes, Pines, and Bamboo. The bamboo is on the companion 6-fold byōbu. They are regarded as early 18th century unfinished works in progress of Kōrin's that were mounted on byōbu sometime after his death.

Kanō School (15th thru 19th Centuries)

For much of its existence, the Kanō school was the most influential school of art in Japan, catering mostly to the tastes of the wealthy and military classes. It was largely influenced by Chinese styles of art, though in its mid to late existence, other art traditions blended with its styles. The byōbu pair below was done in the Kyōto branch of the Kanō school by an unknown artist around 1700.

Suzuki Kiitsu (Japanese, 1796 – 1858)

Kiitsu was another Rinpa school artist. His influence and that of his pupils helped bridge the Rinpa school into modern times. Kiitsu was originally most noted for reinterpretations of some of the most famous works of earlier Rinpa school artists, but he is most respected today for his original works. The early 19th painting below is part of a hanging scroll intended to be hung at the beginning of the lunar year.