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The oriental stork footprint that was found at the Ikeshima Fukumanji historical site in Osaka is shown in this picture provided by the Osaka Center for Cultural Heritage.

Ancient bird tracks discovered at the Ikeshima Fukumanji historical site in Osaka Prefecture belong to the oriental stork, the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties announced on May 18.

The tracks, discovered in the remains of a rice field in the area bordering between Higashi Osaka and Yao, Osaka, in 1996, are believed to be from the early Yayoi Period, dating back some 2,400 years, which makes them the oldest oriental stork tracks in Japan. Oriental stork footprints from the sixth century were earlier found in the Gunma Prefecture city of Maebashi.

Each footprint is about 15 centimeters long and 12 centimeters wide. About 100 prints were unearthed in total, alongside human footprints. It is believed that they were preserved due to a flood occurring soon after they were made and washing sand into them.

For many years it remained unknown what type of bird made the tracks, but last year, Akira Matsui, a researcher at the Nara institute's Center for Archeological Operations, showed a plaster mold of a footprint to veterinarians at the Hyogo Prefectural Homeland for the Oriental White Stork, and the physical features were found to match those of the oriental stork. In March this year, the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology in Abiko, Chiba Prefecture, identified the tracks as being from the oriental stork.

"This is a discovery showing that people and oriental storks lived alongside each other since the Yayoi Period," Matsui said.

The finding raises the possibility that birds depicted on Yayoi Period bronze bells that have been found across Japan were modeled on the oriental stork.

One bronze bell from the Yayoi Period that is stored at the Kobe City Museum shows a bird with a long beak, neck and legs -- similar to birds on other bronze bells found across Japan. In the 1980s it was theorized that the bird was a crane, based on folklore tale that rice cultivation began with a crane dropping an ear of rice. Later, researchers focused on the fact that the birds were depicted with fish in their mouths and theorized that the birds were in fact herons. Birds catching fish would have to be birds of summer, and so the birds could not be winter birds, researches concluded.

Matsui said that oriental storks were probably revered by people during the Yayoi Period.

"Oriental storks have large bodies and their eyes and legs are red, which makes them awe-inspiring. They may have been an object of faith for Yayoi Period people," he said.

However, emeritus professor Hideji Harunari of the National Museum of Japanese History commented, "Herons and cranes are also awe-inspiring, and so it's difficult to restrict the theory to oriental storks alone."

The plaster mold and photographs of the footprints will be on display at the Museum of Yayoi Culture in Izumi, Osaka Prefecture, from May 21 to July 3.