is Japanese falconry, a sport of the noble class, and a symbol of their nobility, their status, and their warrior spirit.
History
thumb|Soga Nichokuan's "Eagle on a Rock" ink on paper,
In Japan, records indicate that falconry from Continental Asia began in the fourth century. According to a passage in the Nihon Shoki (720), continental falconry was introduced by the Baekje noble Sakenokimi in 359 during the reign of Emperor Nintoku. From the outset, the central Court and local lords both enjoyed hawking, with the former trying to monopolize falconry, sometimes with banning orders. Central power, however, as seen in the repetition of prohibiting orders, had no complete control over local falconry until the 17th century. In the 13th century, hawking became popular among the rising samurai class as well as among court nobles (kuge). At that time, the practice of hawking was a means of resolving struggles over land ownership among lords. Buddhist temples, who were also land owners, opposed falconry based on their ideology against killing. Falconer lords, on the other hand, devised a Buddhist rationale or resorted to Shinto justifications. Several falconry schools or styles (ryū) were formed in the process.
The falconry methods employed in Japan had originally been Sino-Korean ones.