🕊️ NATURE · Japan explained · 2026-08-22

The red-crowned crane (tancho): from about 20 birds in 1924 to nearly 1,900 in Hokkaido

Q: Why is the red-crowned crane called tancho in Japanese?

Tancho (タンチョウ) refers to the patch of bare red skin on the top of the bird’s head. The rest of the crane is white with black neck and wing feathers, so the red crown is its clearest field mark.

雪の上でおどる鳥

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166 chars · ~3 min · 21 kanji

🕊️ NATURE 鳥とり

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北海道ほっかいどうのタンチョウは、世界せかいでもめずらしい鳥とりです。

白しろと黒くろのからだに、あたまの赤あかが目立めだちます。

昔むかしは数かずがへり、二十羽にじゅうわしか見みつかりませんでした。

村むらの人ひとが冬ふゆにえさをくばり、またふえました。

二羽にわで声こえを合あわせておどります。

いまも一年中いちねんじゅう北海道ほっかいどうに住すみ、子こを育そだてます。

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Translation

The tancho of Hokkaido is a rare bird even by world standards.

On its black-and-white body, the red on its head stands out clearly.

Long ago its numbers fell, and only twenty birds were found.

People in the village fed them in winter, and the numbers rose again.

The two birds match their calls and dance together.

Even now they live in Hokkaido all year and raise their young.

Why is the red-crowned crane called tancho in Japanese?

The tancho, or red-crowned crane, is one of the largest birds in Japan. Standing it reaches roughly 1.4 metres, and with its wings open it spans about 2.4 metres. The body is white, the neck and wing feathers are black, and the top of the head is a bare patch of red skin — the mark that gives the bird its Japanese name.

In 1924 the species was thought to be gone from Japan until a small group, only about twenty birds, was found in the Kushiro marshes of Hokkaido. Farmers and schoolchildren nearby began putting out corn for them in winter, when the marsh freezes and food runs out. That winter feeding, repeated year after year, is the main reason the population recovered. In 1952 the crane was designated a Special Natural Monument, the highest level of protection Japan gives a wild species, and today about 1,900 live in Hokkaido.

Unlike cranes on the Asian mainland, the Japanese tancho does not migrate abroad. It stays in Hokkaido all year, nesting in the same marshes each spring. Pairs stay together for life and are famous for their dance: two birds face each other, call in a duet, bow, and leap in the snow.

This article comes in six versions, one for each school grade from 1 to 6, with furigana and full translations.

Do Japanese red-crowned cranes migrate?

No. Unlike the mainland population, the cranes in Japan stay in Hokkaido all year and do not fly to other countries. They move only short distances between summer nesting marshes and winter feeding sites.

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