Birds of a really long feather

Lasting Tradition By Tatsuya Sakamoto

With a tail that can reach up to 10 meters in length, the nation's native long-tailed cock has been designated a natural treasure and even found a place in the Guinness Book of Records for its plumage.

The tail feathers were first put into use by the Yamanouchi family, founded by Yamanouchi Kazutoyo who was granted the domain of Tosa (now Kochi Prefecture) in 1603. The family used them to dress the tips of spears carried in processions by vassals and servants of the head of the family--the daimyo (feudal lord)--on his biannual journeys to Edo (now Tokyo) at the order of the Tokugawa shogun.

Takeichi Riemon is said to have been the first person to successfully breed the birds and raise them in the early Edo period (1603-1868). Legend has it that the cocks were a crossbreed between two types of pheasant--copper pheasant and common pheasant--but the truth remains unknown. Currently, genetic analyses are under way to clarify the birds' origins.

Long-tailed cocks can live up to about 10 years, and their tail feathers grow about one meter a year. In 1974, a 10.6-meter-long tail was registered as a world record in the Guinness Book of Records.

Toshio Ikemoto, chairman of a preservation society for the bird in Nankoku, Kochi Prefecture, has raised 80 of the birds. He feeds them twice a day--in the morning and the evening--and said he could not help but touch their tails. Worried that allowing strangers to feed the birds would cause them undue excitement and make them lose their feathers, Ikemoto, 79, finds it difficult to take even an overnight trip.

When a cock becomes about 10 months old, it is put into a long, narrow rearing box, called a tomebako, so it does not hurt or sully itself.

The boxes are narrow so the birds do not fall from their perches, and long, to accommodate their tails.

However, it is difficult to raise a cock with a truly magnificent tail because only about one in 100 chicks are up to par. And even after a year of rearing what they thought was a good bird, cock breeders may discover that the bird has started to sprout feathers with unusual colors.

Ikemoto has only been able to rear six birds with tails measuring more than five meters in the past 20 years. However, in 1998, he raised a fowl with a tail measuring 8.9 meters, a record for him.

Another problem is inbreeding. If this continues to occur, the incubation rate for the birds falls and their tails do not reach their potential.

Ikemoto is cooperating with researchers at Hiroshima University in carrying out genetic research to find a good lineage. But despite living in Takeichi's old stomping ground, he cannot shake the fear that the birds may fall victim to such misfortunes as avian flu, which could lead to the species' extinction.