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All of the following words and kanji (and a few more obscure ones) seem to be
used in Japanese, to describe a bird that is translated by "Phoenix" in
English:

  * 不死鳥【ふしちょう】
  * 鳳凰【ほうおう】
  * 鳳【おおとり】/鵬【おおとり】
  * フェニックス and even:
  * [火の鳥](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A7%E3%83%8B%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9) (thought this one seems to be more of an attempt at a description than a word used on its own)

不死鳥 is rather self-explanatory ("bird that doesn't die"), 鳳凰 is used in the
name of the famous "phoenix hall" (鳳凰堂【ほうおうどう】) at the [Byodoin (平等院【びょうどういん】)
temple in Uji near Kyoto](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By%C5%8Dd%C5%8D-in)
and, to my surprise, the katakana word does not refer only to the city, but
also [the
bird](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A7%E3%83%8B%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9).

It seems clear that there might be some entanglement between different
mythical creatures (some Western, some Asian) that share some properties
(immortality, relation with fire etc)...

Could anybody draw a clear taxonomy of all these birds and the relations
between these Japanese names for me?
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2011-07-01T00:06:32.480
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2011-07-11T07:08:04.077
2011-07-01T03:19:31.920
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question
vocabulary nuances folklore
Phoenix: 不死鳥【ふしちょう】, 鳳凰【ほうおう】, 鳳/鵬【おおとり】, フェニックス... How many lives does this bird have!?
-As Ignacio said, 鳳凰 is the mythical bird from Asian cultures. (fènghuáng in Chinese)

-In the mythology, 鳳 is the male _"asian phoenix"_ and 凰 is the female.

-不死鳥 is the Phoenix from the Greek mythology

-火の鳥 is the name regrouping "fire birds":

  * Bennu, Egypt
  * Huma and Simurgh, Persia
  * Phoenix, Greece and others
  * Firebird, Russia

-フェニックス (used for proper names) The US city and the constellation. For the constellation of the phoenix, 鳳凰 is mostly used, but since it's been discovered by Netherlands navigators and originally named "phoenix", the Japanese name should be フェニックス

-鵬 is another mythical bird (not associated with fire) that transforms from a giant fish (called 鯤 Kun)
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2011-07-01T01:27:45.430
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2011-07-11T07:08:04.077
2011-07-11T07:08:04.077
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answer