The Tōmaru () is a Japanese
breed
A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...
of
long-crowing chicken
Long-crowing chicken breeds are characterised by the unusually long-drawn-out crow of the cocks, which may in some cases last for up to 60 seconds. The oldest references to long-crowing cocks are from China. Long-crowing breeds are found in ...
. The crow may be sustained for some 25 seconds. It is one of four Japanese long-crowing breeds, the others being the
Koeyoshi, the
Kurokashiwa and the
Tōtenkō.
History
The Tōmaru is thought to have originated in China at the time of the
Tang Dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
; the
kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
character , 'tou', represents that dynasty.
The Tomaru was registered as a
Japanese natural monument
is a collective term used by the Japanese government's Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties to denote Cultural Properties of JapanIn this article, capitals indicate an official designation as opposed to a simple definition, e.g "Cultural ...
of
Niigata Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,227,496 (1 July 2019) and is the List of Japanese prefectures by area, fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area ...
in 1939.
Characteristics
The Tōmaru has only one
colour
Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...
, black with a greenish sheen. The body is broad and compact with a full breast. The tail is held low, but higher than horizontally; although the
sickle feathers may be long enough to touch the ground, this is not usually considered a long-tailed breed. The feet and shanks are dark slate-grey. The comb is single. The ears and face are red, sometimes with dark markings; in hens the face may be entirely black.
References
Chicken breeds
Chicken breeds originating in Japan
Long-crowing chickens
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