Hokkaido’s Red-crowned cranes, often called snow ballerinas or tancho in Japanese, that I photograph during my annual Hokkaido birding photo expedition tour are a welcome sight every February when I find them in the Eastern Hokkaido Marshlands.  The Red-crowned cranes’ fortunes, however, have not always been so favorable.  Red-crowned cranes were protected during the Tokugawa shogunate, but due to their rarity, and fabled link to longevity and mythology, nobles and other members of Japan’s ruling classes offered each other salted crane meat and live cranes as gifts.  Once the Tokugawa shogunate ended, and the Meiji restoration started in 1868, several of the cranes marshland habitats were converted to residential areas, factories, dairy pastures, or farmlands for rice cultivation.  As a result, the cranes population went into steady decline.  They were thought to be completely extinct until 1924, when 10 cranes were discovered by local Hokkaido residents in the Kushiro wetlands, some of the same regions where I photograph the cranes during my annual Hokkaido birding photo workshop.  Once the Red-crowned cranes were rediscovered, that’s when the true conservation of the Red-crowned cranes in Hokkaido began.  There is recorded evidence of local farmers and residents attempted feeding the cranes as early as 1950, but I suspect it was happening much earlier than the documentation reflects.  The cranes were initially reluctant to accept the help from humans, but, eventually, the residents and the Red-crowned cranes adapted, and feeding stations were created to assist in sustaining the endemic crane population.  In 1980, the wetlands that they call home in Hokkaido became the first Ramsar site in Japan, and their population has remained steady as a result.

Hokkaido’s First Nations People, the Ainu, express their appreciation of all sentient life, and their appreciation of the Red-crowned crane is no different.  The crane has been a familiar and auspicious symbol of long life since ancient times. The tancho cranes found in Eastern Hokkaido are one species of crane that is carefully protected and known by the Ainu people as the Sarorun Kamuy, or god of the wetlands.  The Ainu Kotan village designated as a significant intangible folk cultural asset by the Government of Japan and UNESCO inscribed traditional Ainu dance on the representative list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.  The Sarorun Rimse (Crane Dance) mimics the movement of a crane.  Whenever I watch the performance, it feels like a reflection of the cranes themselves.  As the performers flap the sleeves of their traditional Ainu wear garments, I see echoes of the Red-Crowned Cranes choreographed courtship dance.  The cranes’ dance begins with a bow to one another, then they raise their heads towards the sky and call in unison, the fluting call of the one or two pairs often inspires other Red-Crowned crane romantic performers to join in the professing call of love and devotion.  The pair or the entire flock will leap into the air at the same time commencing the mating ritual dance.  The tanchos mate for life, and their ritual courtship dance is legendary.

The ancient ceremonial dance of the Ainu expresses happiness and sadness, and is performed not merely for entertainment but to show respect and gratitude to the kamuy (gods and spirits) and their ancestors.  The dances of the Ainu were born from coexisting in the natural world and represents sentient beings such as brown bears, birds, specifically The Blakiston Fish Owl, the Red-Crowned Cranes and all wildlife, insects, and even under and including the sun, moon, stars, and sky.  The variety of Ainu ceremonial dances is humbling to the uninitiated.  Before the performances begin, from front row center specially reserved press seats, I hand out literature and give a little advice to my participants to still their minds and focus them so they can have some understanding of what the performances and dances represent while my participants are photographing or videoing them, so they can appreciate the meaningfulness of Ainu ceremonial dances especially the Sarorun Rimse.  Ainu dances include large group ring dances, small group dances to offer prayers to the spirits, dances to show gratitude for successful fishing and harvests, dances to drive away evil spirits and sickness, and each dance serves a specific purpose depending on the kamuy or spirit that is being praised.