1975, Japan, Nature Conservation
designer: Takao Yamouchi
The Red crowned crane, also known as the Japanese crane, is among the largest of the cranes and can reach a height of 5' 2" (150-158 cm) with a wingspan of between 7' to 8' (220-250 cm). Hokkaido is a special breeding area and these cranes migrate less than 100 miles for the winter. Cranes are said to grant favours in return for acts of sacrifice. It is also the logo for Japan Air Lines. The name Japan is mostly used by for foreign branding, while Nippon is the name used since the seventh century. The kanji characters mean 'origin of the sun'. In the Tang dynasty, the earliest record of the use of Nippon comes from a message brought to China by a delegation from Japan from the "Emperor of the land where the sun rises to the Emperor of the land where the sun sets" which refers to the fact that Japan lies east of China.
for the letter N - Nippon, nature
4 comments:
An elegant stamp with elegant birds.
Beautiful stamp, and a great choice for N.
Wow those cranes must be quite a sight flying in with that wing size, beautiful stamp. Weirdly I just read an article in the newspaper about winter holiday's in Hokkaido which sounded amazing with cranes and snow monkeys.
that is a lot of interesting information that have arisen from a single stamp, esp since I have always found that Far East culture fascinating!
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