〜羽: Birds and Rabbits | Japanese Grammar

Japanese does not have one word for "how many animals." It has a whole committee of counters, and each species reports to a different one. Fish and cats and dogs take 匹（ひき）; horses and cows take 頭（とう）; and everything with feathers takes 羽（わ）. This page teaches 羽 for birds — from the sparrow on your windowsill to the flock of geese overhead — and then delivers one of the most delightful facts in the whole counter system: rabbits are also counted with 羽, as if they were birds. There is a story behind that, and it is worth knowing.

The basic use: anything with feathers

Use 羽 for birds of every size and register: sparrows, pigeons, crows, chickens, ducks, swans, penguins, ostriches, eagles. Unlike English, which switches between "a flock," "a brood," and "a bird," Japanese just needs 羽 and a number.

The kanji 羽 literally depicts feathers/wings (はね, hane), which makes it easy to remember — it is the "feather counter." When it counts, it is read わ (wa).

電線に鳥が三羽とまっている。

densen ni tori ga sanba tomatte iru

Three birds are perched on the power line.

白鳥が湖に五羽降りてきた。

hakuchō ga mizuumi ni gowa orite kita

Five swans came down onto the lake.

祖父は鶏を十羽ほど飼っている。

sofu wa niwatori o juppa hodo katte iru

My grandfather keeps about ten chickens.

The readings — and where the sound changes hit

Because 羽 begins with a w that descends historically from a p, it behaves like the h-counters (本, 匹): it geminates after 一, 六, 八, 十 and can voice after ん. But it also has one genuinely irregular member — 一羽 is いちわ, not the いっぱ you would predict. Learn the table; the four bold rows are the ones that catch people.

Number	Reading	What happened
一羽	いちわ (ichiwa)	irregular — no gemination (you'd expect ippa)
二羽	にわ (niwa)	— regular
三羽	さんば / さんわ (sanba / sanwa)	voicing after ん (both are accepted)
四羽	よんわ (yonwa)	— regular
五羽	ごわ (gowa)	— regular
六羽	ろっぱ (roppa)	gemination + w → p
七羽	ななわ / しちわ (nanawa / shichiwa)	— regular
八羽	はちわ / はっぱ (hachiwa / happa)	gemination optional — both heard
九羽	きゅうわ (kyūwa)	— regular
十羽	じゅっぱ / じっぱ (juppa / jippa)	gemination + w → p
何羽	なんば / なんわ (nanba / nanwa)	voicing after ん

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The pattern is the same two forces you met with 本 and 百: 六羽 → roppa and 十羽 → juppa geminate and harden to p, while 三羽 → sanba voices after ん. The single thing you cannot derive is 一羽 = いちわ — by the logic of 六羽 roppa it "should" be ippa, but it isn't. Memorize that one word and the rest of the table falls out of the master pattern on Counter Sound Changes.

庭に来るスズメは、いつも一羽だけ。

niwa ni kuru suzume wa, itsumo ichiwa dake

The sparrow that visits the garden is always just one.

うちのベランダに鳩が六羽もいて、朝からうるさい。

uchi no beranda ni hato ga roppa mo ite, asa kara urusai

There are six pigeons on our balcony, and they're noisy from the morning on.

この動物園には、フラミンゴが何羽いるんだろう。

kono dōbutsuen ni wa, furamingo ga nanba iru n darō

I wonder how many flamingos this zoo has.

The famous quirk: rabbits are counted like birds

Here is the fact that competing counter lists mention in a footnote but almost never explain. Rabbits (うさぎ, 兎) are traditionally counted with 羽 — the bird counter — even though a rabbit is obviously a furry, four-legged mammal.

公園でうさぎを二羽見かけた。

kōen de usagi o niwa mikaketa

I spotted two rabbits in the park.

Why? The most-repeated explanation is a piece of religious-culinary history. During Japan's long Buddhist-influenced periods, eating four-legged land animals was discouraged or, in monasteries, forbidden — but birds and fish were permitted. Rabbit meat was a tempting exception, so the story goes that monks (and later ordinary people) rationalized eating it by reclassifying the rabbit as a bird: its long ears could be called wings or feathers (羽), and it hops rather than runs on all fours. Count it with 羽, and — with a wink — it becomes fair game for the table.

There are competing folk etymologies (諸説あり, shosetsu ari, "there are several theories"). A popular pun-based one dissects the word うさぎ into 鵜（う）, a cormorant, plus 鷺（さぎ）, an egret — two birds hiding inside the name. None of these is settled fact; they are the kind of after-the-fact stories a culture tells to justify a habit it already has. But the underlying reality is genuine: 羽 was the socially "clean" counter that let rabbit onto the plate.

💡

This is a cultural aside, not a rule you must produce. In modern everyday speech, most people count rabbits with 匹（ひき） — the ordinary small-animal counter — and no one will blink. The 羽 count survives in traditional contexts, older writing, and among people who keep or raise rabbits. Recognize 二羽のうさぎ when you read it; reach for 二匹 when you speak.

A word on register and modern usage

Counting rabbits with 羽 is best labeled (traditional): correct, culturally resonant, but no longer the default. The everyday choice is (informal) 匹. Birds, by contrast, are unambiguous — 羽 is the standard for all registers, from a children's picture book to an ornithology paper.

ペットショップで子うさぎが三匹売られていた。

petto shoppu de kousagi ga sanbiki urarete ita

Three baby rabbits were for sale at the pet shop.

鳥インフルエンザで鶏が数百羽処分された。

tori infuruenza de niwatori ga sūhyaku-wa shobun sareta

Hundreds of chickens were culled because of avian flu.

One charming test sentence Japanese children learn as a tongue-twister packs 羽 into a homophone trap: 庭（にわ） "garden," 二羽（にわ） "two birds," and 鶏（にわとり） "chicken" all crowd together.

裏庭には二羽鶏がいる。

uraniwa ni wa niwa niwatori ga iru

In the back garden there are two chickens.

Bats, and other flyers

Since 羽 is really the "flying-thing" counter as much as the "feather" one, learners sometimes ask about bats (こうもり). In practice bats are usually counted with 匹, because Japanese classifies them as mammals despite the wings — but you will occasionally meet 羽 for them in poetic or older writing. When in doubt with any flyer that isn't a bird, 匹 is the safe modern default. For that whole small-animal system, see 〜匹 (Small Animals); for the large animals that take 頭 instead, see 〜頭 (Large Animals).

Common mistakes

❌ 鳥が三匹とまっている。

Incorrect — birds don't take 匹; feathered creatures take 羽.

✅ 鳥が三羽とまっている。

tori ga sanba tomatte iru

Three birds are perched.

English speakers reach for 匹 for every animal because it feels like a generic "creature" counter. It isn't — the moment there are feathers, switch to 羽.

❌ 一羽＝いっぱ

Incorrect — over-applying 六羽 roppa's gemination; one bird does not double.

✅ 一羽＝いちわ

ichiwa

one bird

This is the single irregular reading in the paradigm. You correctly learn 六羽 roppa and 十羽 juppa, then assume 一羽 must be ippa — but it stays いちわ.

❌ 六羽＝ろくわ

Incorrect — 六 geminates and hardens w to p before 羽.

✅ 六羽＝ろっぱ

roppa

six birds

❌ 三羽＝さんぱ

Incorrect — after ん, 羽 voices to ば (or stays わ), it does not harden to ぱ.

✅ 三羽＝さんば / さんわ

sanba / sanwa

three birds

Hardening to p only happens with gemination (六羽, 十羽). After ん you get soft voicing instead: さんば.

❌ うさぎを二頭数えた。

Incorrect — 頭 is for large livestock and big animals; a rabbit is small.

✅ うさぎを二羽（または二匹）数えた。

usagi o niwa (mata wa nihiki) kazoeta

I counted two rabbits (traditional 羽, or modern 匹).

A rabbit never takes 頭 — that counter belongs to horses, cattle, and other large animals. Its counter is the traditional 羽 or the everyday 匹.

Key takeaways

羽（わ） counts birds of every kind, in every register.
The irregular readings to lock in: 一羽 ichiwa (no gemination), 三羽 sanba/sanwa, 六羽 roppa, 十羽 juppa, 何羽 nanba/nanwa.
Rabbits traditionally take 羽 — a relic of the Buddhist rule that permitted birds but not four-legged meat. In modern speech, count rabbits with 匹.
When a flyer isn't a bird (a bat, say), the safe modern default is 匹, not 羽.

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