Japanese hare Japanese hare The Japanese hare ("Lepus brachyurus") is a species of hare native to Japan. Coenraad Jacob Temminck described the Japanese hare in 1845. The species name is derived from the Ancient Greek "brachys" "short" and "ouros" "tail". The four subspecies of this hare are: The Japanese hare is reddish-brown, with a body length that ranges from , and a body weight of . Its tail grows to lengths of . Its front legs can be from long and the back legs from long. The ears grow to be long, and the tail long. In areas of northern Japan, the
Hare be stored for up to several months. It is served cold, often on bread or as an appetizer. The hare in African folk tales is a trickster; some of the stories about the hare were retold among African slaves in America, and are the basis of the Br'er Rabbit stories. The hare appears in English folklore in the saying "as mad as a March hare" and in the legend of the White Hare that alternatively tells of a witch who takes the form of a white hare and goes out looking for prey at night or of the spirit of