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!? 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: * * * / * and even: * (thought this one seems to be more of an attempt at a description than a word used on its own) is rather self-explanatory ("bird that doesn't die"), is used in the name of the famous "phoenix hall" () at the Byodoin () temple in Uji near Kyoto and, to my surprise, the katakana word does not refer only to the city, but also the bird. 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?

-As Ignacio said, is the mythical bird from Asian cultures. (fènghuáng in Chinese)

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

- is the Phoenix from the Greek mythology

- is the name regrouping "fire birds":

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



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

- is another mythical bird (not associated with fire) that transforms from a giant fish (called Kun)