Ask John: Why Are Crows Associated With Insults?

Question:
Why are crows or ravens seen flying and making insults? Most frequently in Naruto (or any other anime), a crow or raven flies by and starts crowing a strange sound. If you listen carefully, the sound that the raven makes seems like a word, “aho”, or something similar. Given my rough and very limited knowledge of Japanese listening comprehension skills, it seems like that word stands for an insult like “jerk,” “dummy,” “twerp,” etc.

Answer:
Your intuition serves you well. The Japanese word “ahou” is one of the words for “idiot” or “fool.” It’s also the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of a crow’s cry. (English uses “caw” for the sound of a crow; Japanese uses “ahou.” English uses “meow” for the sound of a cat; Japanese uses “nya” or “nyan.” English uses “ribbit” for the sound of a frog; Japanese uses “kero.” English uses “woof” for the sound of a dog; Japanese uses “wan.”) In countless anime, a few examples include Naruto, City Hunter, Hare Nochi Guu, and Full Metal Panic, the sound of a crow in the distance making the sound “ahou” often accompanies or follows a foolish statement or action. The “ahou” is a subtle gag. It serves the same purpose as a laugh track in an American television sitcom. The sound punctuates the joke and subtly signals to readers that something dumb was just said or done. The City Hunter anime in particular went so far as to actually draw symbolic little crows flying by on screen at times to emphasize the joke or replace the audible sound of a crow’s caw.