Japanese Animals Vocabulary: 50+ Animals in Kanji and Kana

The most essential animals in Japanese are 犬 (inu, dog), 猫 (neko, cat), 鳥 (tori, bird), 魚 (sakana, fish), 牛 (ushi, cow), and 虎 (tora, tiger). Japanese animal vocabulary reveals a fascinating divide: animals native to Japan and East Asia are written in kanji characters with embedded meaning, while exotic species borrowed from Western languages appear in katakana.

Japanese is spoken by approximately 125 million native speakers according to Ethnologue's 2024 data. The language's three-script writing system (hiragana, katakana, and kanji) creates a uniquely layered vocabulary for the natural world. The character 犬 visually evolved from a pictograph of a dog, while 鳥 traces back to an ancient drawing of a bird with a long tail. Learning animal kanji is one of the most rewarding entry points into the Japanese writing system because many characters retain visual connections to the creatures they represent.

"The pictographic origins of animal kanji offer learners a window into how the earliest writing systems encoded the natural world. Characters like 魚 (fish), 馬 (horse), and 鳥 (bird) have traceable visual histories spanning three thousand years of evolution from oracle bone inscriptions to modern forms."

(David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, Cambridge University Press)

This guide covers 50+ animal names organized by category, with kanji, kana readings, pronunciation, and the cultural stories behind Japan's relationship with its fauna. For interactive practice with real Japanese content, visit our Japanese learning page.

Quick Reference: Essential Japanese Animals

Pets and Domestic Animals

Japan has one of the world's highest rates of pet ownership. According to the Japan Pet Food Association's 2024 survey, there are approximately 9 million pet dogs and 8.9 million pet cats in the country, numbers that rival the under-15 human population. Pet vocabulary is among the first animal words Japanese children learn.

犬 (いぬ)

犬 (inu) is one of the first kanji most learners encounter. It appears in the famous compound 忠犬 (chuuken, loyal dog), as in 忠犬ハチ公 (Chuuken Hachiko), the Akita dog who waited at Shibuya Station for his deceased owner for nearly ten years. The sound a dog makes in Japanese is ワンワン (wan wan), quite different from English "woof" or "bark."

猫 (neko) has become globally famous through Japanese pop culture. The 招き猫 (maneki-neko, beckoning cat) figurine is believed to bring good fortune to businesses. 猫舌 (nekojita, literally "cat tongue") describes someone who cannot eat hot food, a uniquely Japanese expression with no English equivalent.

Rabbits (うさぎ) have a curious grammatical quirk: they are counted with the bird counter 羽 (wa) rather than the small-animal counter 匹 (hiki). The widely accepted explanation is that Buddhist monks, forbidden from eating four-legged animals, classified rabbits as birds based on their long ears resembling wings. This counting tradition persists in modern Japanese.

Farm Animals

Japanese farm animal vocabulary consists almost entirely of kanji words, reflecting the deep agricultural roots of Japanese civilization. The Japan Foundation notes that these words appear in JLPT N5-N4 level materials, making them essential early vocabulary.

牛 (うし)

牛 (ushi) is central to modern Japanese food culture. The compound 和牛 (wagyuu, literally "Japanese cow") has become internationally famous. The character appears in dozens of daily compounds: 牛乳 (gyuunyuu, milk), 牛肉 (gyuuniku, beef), 牛丼 (gyuudon, beef bowl). A cow's sound in Japanese is モーモー (moo moo), one of the few animal sounds that closely matches English.

The compound 馬鹿 (baka, fool or idiot) is one of Japanese's most common insults and literally combines 馬 (horse) and 鹿 (deer). Several folk etymologies explain this pairing, but the most accepted theory traces it to a Chinese historical anecdote about a corrupt official who pointed at a deer and called it a horse to test the loyalty of courtiers.

Wild Animals

Japan's mountainous terrain and island geography support a diverse range of wildlife. According to IUCN Red List data, Japan is home to over 90,000 documented animal species, including iconic creatures like the Japanese macaque (ニホンザル), the Asiatic black bear (ツキノワグマ), and the Iriomote cat (イリオモテヤマネコ), one of the world's rarest felines.

ライオン

狐 (kitsune, fox) holds a unique place in Japanese mythology. In Shinto tradition, foxes are the messengers of Inari, the deity of rice, fertility, and prosperity. Stone fox statues guard the entrances to thousands of Inari shrines across Japan, with Kyoto's Fushimi Inari Taisha being the most famous. In folklore, kitsune are supernatural tricksters that can shapeshift into human form, a motif that appears constantly in anime and manga.

猿 (saru, monkey) is inseparable from Japanese culture. The three wise monkeys at Nikko's Toshogu Shrine (見ざる (mizaru, see no evil), 聞かざる (kikazaru, hear no evil), 言わざる (iwazaru, speak no evil)) are a wordplay on ざる (zaru, "not doing") and 猿 (saru, monkey). The Japanese macaque (ニホンザル, nihonzaru) is the world's northernmost-living non-human primate, famously bathing in hot springs in Nagano.

狼 (ookami, wolf) literally means "great god" (大神), reflecting the animal's sacred status in pre-modern Japan. Wolves were revered as protectors of crops who kept deer and boar populations in check. The Japanese wolf (ニホンオオカミ) was declared extinct in 1905, making it a poignant word to know.

Sea Creatures

As an island nation with over 29,000 kilometers of coastline, Japan has an extraordinarily rich vocabulary for marine life. Many sea creature kanji contain the 魚 (fish) radical on the left side, making them visually identifiable as aquatic animals.

鯨 (くじら)

鯨 (kujira, whale) is written with the fish radical 魚 on the left, reflecting the pre-scientific classification of whales as fish. The right side is 京 (capital), possibly referencing the animal's enormous size (京 also means "ten quadrillion" in the Japanese numeral system). イルカ (iruka, dolphin) has an equally fascinating kanji form: 海豚, literally "sea pig."

タコ (tako, octopus) is deeply embedded in Japanese food culture. たこ焼き (takoyaki, octopus balls) originated in Osaka in the 1930s and is now one of Japan's most iconic street foods. The octopus itself has been a staple of Japanese cuisine and art for centuries, appearing in Hokusai's famous woodblock prints.

Birds

Japanese has a dedicated counter for birds: 羽 (wa), literally meaning "feather." This counter is one of the first Japanese learners encounter when studying the counter system, and it applies to all birds regardless of size.

鷹 (たか)

フクロウ (fukurou, owl) is considered a lucky bird in Japan through an elaborate wordplay. The syllables can be reinterpreted as 不苦労 (fu-ku-rou, "no hardship") or 福来郎 (fuku-rou, "fortune-coming gentleman"). Owl figurines and charms are popular souvenirs, and owl cafes (フクロウカフェ) became a tourist attraction in Tokyo and Osaka. The kanji 梟 exists but is rarely used; katakana フクロウ dominates in modern writing.

鳩 (hato, pigeon/dove) is one of the most commonly seen birds in urban Japan. The character appears in the name of the famous Kamakura temple 鳩サブレ (Hato Sable) cookie, a beloved Kanagawa souvenir since 1894.

Insects

Japanese has a rich insect vocabulary because 虫 (mushi, insect/bug) has traditionally been a broad category in Japanese culture. Listening to insects, particularly the singing of autumn crickets, is considered an aesthetic pleasure in Japan, a practice that has been documented since the Heian period (794-1185).

蝶 (ちょう)

Notice that all insect kanji share the 虫 (mushi) radical, just as sea creatures share the 魚 (fish) radical. This consistency makes insect kanji recognizable even when the full character is complex. 蚊 (ka, mosquito) is notable for being one of the shortest words in Japanese (just a single mora) and its kanji cleverly combines 虫 (insect) with 文 (a phonetic element).

蜘蛛 (kumo, spider) has an interesting superstition attached to it: seeing a spider in the morning (朝蜘蛛, asa-kumo) is considered good luck, while seeing one at night (夜蜘蛛, yoru-kumo) is bad luck. This belief appears in Japanese literature dating back centuries.

Animal Counters: 匹, 頭, and 羽

One of the trickiest aspects of Japanese animal vocabulary is the counter system. Unlike English, where you simply say "three dogs," Japanese requires a specific counter word that changes based on the animal's size.

The boundary between 匹 and 頭 is roughly the size of a person: animals you can hold use 匹, animals larger than you use 頭. However, this is not absolute. Butterflies and insects always use 匹 regardless of size, and rabbits use 羽 due to the historical Buddhist classification mentioned earlier.

The Japanese Zodiac (干支)

The Japanese zodiac differs from the Chinese version in one notable way: the final animal is 猪 (inoshishi, wild boar) rather than a pig. Wild boar have a long history in Japan as both a food source and a cultural symbol of reckless courage. The expression 猪突猛進 (chototsu moushin, "boar charge") describes someone who rushes forward without thinking.

Japanese Animal Onomatopoeia

Japanese is famously rich in onomatopoeia (擬声語, giseigo), and animal sounds are among the first words children learn. These sounds differ dramatically from their English equivalents:

These onomatopoeia appear constantly in manga, anime, and everyday conversation. A Japanese parent might call a dog ワンワン (wan wan) or a cat ニャンニャン (nyan nyan) when speaking to young children, similar to how English speakers say "doggy" or "kitty." The Agency for Cultural Affairs' National Language Survey confirms that onomatopoeia remains one of the most productive word-formation categories in modern Japanese.

Practice Japanese Animal Vocabulary With Real Content

Vocabulary tables build your foundation, but hearing animal words in authentic Japanese dialogue is what makes them permanent. Japanese anime and film are full of animal references, from the spirit animals in Studio Ghibli films to the animal companions in shonen manga to nature documentaries narrated in Japanese.

Wordy lets you watch Japanese content with interactive subtitles. When 犬, 猫, or any animal word appears in dialogue, tap it to see the kanji, reading, and meaning in real context. You absorb vocabulary naturally as native speakers actually use it, rather than drilling isolated flashcards.

Browse our blog for more Japanese vocabulary guides, or check out the best movies to learn Japanese for viewing recommendations that bring these animal words to life in authentic storytelling.