斑鳩 is pronounced “Ikaruga”.
It is the word for the Japanese grosbeak, a bird which looks like this:
whistle
tak tak
whistle whistle
squawk
squawk squawk
tak tak tak
斑 can mean “spot” or “speckle”.
鳩 means “pigeon” or “dove”.
When you put these kanji together you get the bird’s name. Perhaps the “spot” is the striking yellow beak?
The scientific name for this bird is “Eophona personata”.
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In December 2001 an arcade game called 斑鳩 [Ikaruga] was released in Japan. It was later converted to home formats worldwide. You can play it on Steam.
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