Passeridae
スズメ科
suzume ka

General

Information is from dictionaries and other sources. Species list may not be current. Korean glosses are tentative. Comments and corrections welcome. Hover over Green Lettering Green lettering at this site hides a tool tip with glosses, further explanations, etc. Hover cursor to reveal. to see additional information.

The Japanese word for 'sparrow' is スズメ suzume, written with the Chinese character 雀. Unmodified, スズメ suzume refers to Passer montanus.

The ニュウナイスズメ nyū-nai suzume 'court-entering sparrow' is linked to a legend about the poet Fujiwara no Sanekata, who was exiled after an incident at court to the wilds of Tohoku. Sanekata died before he could return to Kyoto. At around the same time a sparrow appeared at the Imperial court and consumed whole bowls of rice at a sitting, giving rise to rumours that the ‘court-entering sparrow’was actually Sanekata’s aggrieved soul. Sanekata’s soul was also linked to the devastation of crops by sparrows, and Passer cinnamomeus, which breeds in the northeast of Japan and descends on rice fields around the country in autumn, is thus identified as ニュウナイスズメ nyū-nai suzume.

CULTURAL

The expression 雀の涙 suzume no namida 'sparrow's tears' refers to a lamentably small or trifling amount.

The expression 雀百まで踊り忘れず suzume hyaku made odori wasurezu 'a sparrow doesn't forget how to dance (hop) even when it reaches 100' means that what is learnt in youth is never forgotten. It is often used for less-than-healthy pursuits.

The Japanese fairy-tale 舌切り雀 shita-kiri suzume 'tongue-cut sparrow' exemplifies the moral 'good for good, evil for evil'. The old man who takes care of the sparrow is rewarded; his wife who cuts out the sparrow's tongue gets her just desserts.

Species names

SCIENTIFIC & WESTERN		JAPANESE		CHINESE			KOREAN
Passer
Latin	Eng, Fr, Ger, Ru	Japanese	Other J	Chinese	Chinese (Taiwan)	Other Ch	Korean
Passer cinnamomeus Passer rutilans	Russet sparrow Cinnamon sparrow Ruddy sparrow Moineau rutilant Rötelsperling Рыжий воробей	ニュウナイスズメ (入内雀) nyūnai suzume 'enter court sparrow'		山麻雀 (山麻雀) shān má-què 'mountain sparrow'	山麻雀 (山麻雀) shān má-què 'mountain sparrow'	黄雀 (黄雀) huáng-què 'yellow sparrow' 红雀 (紅雀) hóng-què 'red sparrow' (also Schoeniclus rutilus, Erythrina erythrina, and Amandava amandava) 桂色雀 (桂色雀) guì-sè què 'cinnamon-coloured sparrow' 赭麻雀 (赭麻雀) zhě má-què 'brownish sparrow' 山只只 (山只只) shān zhī-zhī (?) 'mountain zhi zhi'	섬참새 seom-cham-sae 'island sparrow bird'
Passer montanus	Eurasian tree sparrow Tree sparrow Moineau friquet Feldsperling Полевой воробей	スズメ (雀) suzume 'sparrow'	コウジャク (黄雀) kōjaku 'yellow sparrow' A wealth of popular names (see Hiraizumi)	麻雀 (麻雀) má-què 'sparrow' or 树麻雀 (樹麻雀) shù má-què 'tree sparrow' (alt in 1, 3)	麻雀 (麻雀) má-què 'sparrow'	麻雀儿 (麻雀兒) má-qiǎor 'sparrow' 家雀 (家雀) jiā-què 'house sparrow' 家雀儿 (家雀兒) jiā-qiǎor 'house sparrow' (dialect) 琉麻雀 (琉麻雀) liú má-què 'glazed sparrow' 老家贼 (老家賊) lǎo jiā-zéi 'old house thief' (dialect) 老家子 (老家子) lǎo jiāzi 'old house fellow' 老雀子 (老雀子) lǎo qiǎozi 'old sparrow' 王母使者 (王母使者) wángmǔ shǐzhě 'emissary of the queen mother' 宾雀 (賓雀) bīn-què 'guest sparrow' 瓦雀 (瓦雀) wǎ-què 'tile sparrow' 只只 (只只) zhī-zhī (?) 'zhi zhi' 厝鸟 (厝鳥) cuò-niǎo 'house-bird' (dialect)	참새 cham-sae 'sparrow bird'

ニュウナイ nyū-nai means 'entry into the Imperial court'. According to legend, the poet Fujiwara no Sanekata was exiled to the wilds of Tohoku after an incident at court and died before he could return to Kyoto. The appearance at this time of a sparrow at the Imperial court which consumed whole bowls of rice gave rise to rumours that the 'court-entering sparrow' was Sanekata’s aggrieved soul. Sanekata was also linked to the devastation of crops by sparrows. Passer cinnamomeus, which breeds in the northeast and descends on rice fields around the country in autumn, is thus known as ニュウナイスズメ nyū-nai suzume.

中国鸟类种和亚种分类名录大全（修订版） 郑作新 著 科学出版社 北京 2000年
A Complete Checklist of Species and Subspecies of the Chinese Birds (Revised Edition) by Cheng Tso-Hsin, Science Press, Beijing 2000

中国鸟类分类与分布名录 主编：郑光美 科学出版社 北京 2005年
A Checklist on the Classification and Distribution of the Birds of China Chief editor: Zheng Guangmei, Science Press, Beijing 2005

中国鸟类野外手册（中文版）约翰・马敬能、卡伦・菲利普斯，合作者：荷芬奇，翻译：卢和芬 湖南教育出版社 长沙 2000年
A Field Guide to the Birds of China (Chinese translation) by John MacKinnon, Karen Phillipps, in collaboration with He Fen-qi, translated by Lu Hefen, Hunan Jiaoyu Chubanshe (Hunan Educational Press) Changsha 2000

世界鸟类分类与分布名录 主编：郑光美 科学出版社 北京 2002年
A Checklist on the Classification and Distribution of the Birds of the World Chief editor: Zheng Guangmei, Science Press, Beijing 2002

世界鸟类名称（拉丁文、汉文、英文对照）第二版 郑作新等 科学出版社 北京 2002年
Birds of the World (Latin, Chinese and English Names) 2nd ed. by Cheng Tso-Hsin et al, Science Press, Beijing 2002