Читать книгу A Gaijin's Guide to Japan: An alternative look at Japanese life, history and culture - Ben Stevens - Страница 20

You’re much more likely to hear rather than see this little critter, though to be honest you won’t be missing all that much. The Japanese Bush Warbler, or uguisu, is usually small, brown (sometimes with a hint of dark yellow around its belly) and…er…that’s about it really.

The beauty of its mating call—which I won’t even attempt to transcribe here—commences from around the start of spring, and once led to it being dubbed ‘the Japanese Nightingale’. This name, however, completely ignored one important point: namely, that the uguisu never chirps away at night.

This bird also lends its name to that special type of ninja-defeating flooring, uguisubari. It’s also often mentioned in haiku, given its association with spring, sakura, and other things that tend to get the Japanese excited. And if that’s still not enough, an enzyme found in its droppings is used both as a skin-whitening agent and to remove stains from a kimono.