The Year of the Sheep

So I've been doing my homework! The Asian Zodiac is divided into 12 years, and each year is named after an animal (rat, rooster, monkey, etc.). This system is said to have been adopted in Japan during the reign of the Empress Suiko in 604 A.D. Guess what? One of the years is named after me—a sheep! The Japanese word for me, is “hitsuji.” The kanji character (Chinese character) for sheep came from the shape of a sheep’s head with two horns, four legs, and a tail.
Unfortunately, although they honor me by naming a year after me, my kind are rare in Japan, since the climate of Japan is not appropriate to raise sheep (it is too humid). No wonder my fleece has been such a mess!

Despite the rarity of sheep in Japan, we have done our best to make a name for ourselves here, though I’m not altogether sure that the efforts have been successful. Consider the following examples:




- In 1982, Japanese author Haruki Murakami wrote a novel titled A Wild Sheep Chase about a neurotic chain-smoking Japanese man who goes on a hunt for a sheep that has not been seen in years. At one point during his hunt he meets a man who dresses as a sheep and talks in slurs.

Hmm . . . okay, let’s try another one:

- In 2000, a Japanese couple used Dolly the cloned sheep in their wedding photo before researchers ended the practice.

Ummm, yeah . . . moving on:
- A story that ran across the globe earlier this year in newspapers and on websites reported that a company called “Poodles as Pets” had been selling Australian sheep to rich women as poodles in Sapporo, Japan. The story went on to say that because sheep were rare in Japan, people were not able to distinguish between a sheep and a poodle. However, the story was later uncovered as a hoax.

Sigh. I guess we’re not doing very well on the PR front at this point. However, I am hoping that my presence may help Japanese-sheep relations along. It must be working already, as Japan’s wikipedia has already included an entry all about me. I also hold out hope for the Japanese people, as they must have some kind of sheeply respect, as a hiker came across these stone sheep in Noboribetsu, Hokkaido: