Rabbit (Usagi)

Meaning: Charity, Selflessness, Trickster, Moon, Intelligence, Learning, Education, Sexuality, Lust, Shyness

Rabbits, or Hares more appropriately as there are no native rabbits in Japan, have many tales and folklore about them in Japan.

They are said to be allies of farmers which is a bit odd considering they tend to eat crops. But in a popular Japanese folktale the hare makes a promise to a farmer to get revenge on a Tanuki that tricked a farmer into eating his wife! https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2018/01/yuki-usagi-the-japanese-snow-hare/

In another story the hare, fox, otter and monkey vow to do acts of charity on the day of the full moon. When they meet a poor man each give the food they have collected to him but because the hare eats grass it threw itself onto the man’s fire so he could be eaten. The man then reveals that he is the deity Sakra and prevents the hare from burning. He then takes him to live on the moon so his selflessness can be witnessed by the world. https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2018/01/yuki-usagi-the-japanese-snow-hare/

Many animals represent intelligence but the hare is probably the only one that represents the joy of gaining knowledge or learning. Also, it is believed that those born in the year of the rabbit are the most fortunate. Rabbits also symbolize abudance, sexuality, lust and fertility- for obvious reasons. But they also represent shyness- perhaps shyness with a hidden wild side?