Special Feature: Admiring the sounds of birdsong
Niigata Prefecture is home to a breed of chicken called the Tomaru. It is considered one of Japan's three longest-crowing chickens, and a long-crowing competition is held every May at Yahiko Shrine in Niigata Prefecture. In 2023, a Tomaru chicken participating in the competition crowing for a whopping 28 seconds, astonishing breeders. While conducting research in Niigata Prefecture, I was struck by the Tomaru chicken's long crowing, and several questions arose as I listened to its sound. These questions include how it developed this distinctive crowing sound, how it is maintained, and why it continues to be bred.
It is generally believed that chicken crowing is innate and not learned later in life. So how do chicken breeders improve and preserve chicken crowing? This feature begins with a question that the author had in the field and considers the relationship between animal crowing and humans.
Ueda Sohei (Professor at the National Museum of Ethnology), Yonezawa Takahiro (Professor at Hiroshima University), Ueki Asako (Former President of Doshisha University)
Kei Goto (Representative of Singing Insects Researcher)
Special Feature: Seeing the Invisible: Representations of Disease, Past and Present Throughout human history, epidemics and other forms of illness have been inseparable phenomena. Illness also connects people with other living things. In August 2024, a symposium entitled "What is Visible and What is Invisible: Seeing and Expressing Illness" (Regular Meeting on Invisible Things) was held entirely online. Researchers from history, psychology, and virology took to the stage to discuss the representation of invisible disease.
Based on the lectures at the symposium, this special feature focuses on the representation of what causes illness and provides an overview of the representation of illness from ancient and medieval times to early modern and modern times, and even today.
Yoko Yasuda (Associate Professor, Yasuda Women's University), Masao Takehara (Associate Professor, Shokei Gakuin University), Kosuke Oda (Lecturer, Yasuda Women's University)
New Series: African Bioethnology
This paper looks back at research into the interrelationship between humans and plants, particularly in Africa, as part of ethnobiology research in Japan.
Masayoshi Shigeta (Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University)
Reading Nature: The Mindset of Those Who Advocate for Eating Insects This article examines the feelings of people and society when accepting the idea of eating insects.
Hidenori Endo (Professor at the University of Tokyo)
Released on 25/11/25
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BIOSTORY Vol. 44: Admiring the sounds of birdsong | Seibundo Shinkosha Co., Ltd. (seibundo-shinkosha.net)