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Netsuke - Sheep　根付「ひつじ」と不可算名詞

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

This is "Sheep," a netsuke sculpture carved from amber with makie painting by Kinuyo Hariya, a Japanese netsuke carver and makie painter.  

"Sheep" by Kinuyo Hariya　ひつじ - 針谷絹代

Carved from amber with makie painting of sheep
琥珀＆蒔絵　黒い羊の意味は｡｡｡？

It has a black sheep on it, so I searched for information about what the carver meant by it, but couldn't find anything and instead it reminded me of something.... Why can't we say two "sheeps" in English? It doesn't make sense (to me) that sheep are uncountable. 

Japanese has (too) many counter words and uses different ones depending on what's counted. For example, when you talk about the number of animals other than large ones, such as sheep, you use "hiki" while for large animals, such as cattle or horses, you use "tou." However, Japanese has no concept of countable or uncountable words, so although it's hard to memorize which counter word is used for which, you don't need to remember which word is uncountable.  

By the way, Japanese has no masculine or feminine words, either and can omit the subject when it is obvious. (To learn about the tragedy happening when the subject is not said, read "Japanese Translation of "A Pale View of Hills.")

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針谷絹代作の根付「ひつじ」です。琥珀に蒔絵が施されています。きれいかつ可愛いです。

英語で「black sheep（黒い羊）」はグループ内、特に家族内の変わり者、厄介者を意味します。欅坂４６の歌でご存じの方も多いのではないでしょうか。

ところで羊と言えば、英語で面倒な不可算名詞。羊は不可算なので以下のようになります。

The sheep is herded by the sheepdog.　その羊はそのシープドッグが誘導している。
The sheep are herded by the sheepdog.　その羊の群れはそのシープドッグが誘導している。

「sheep」は単複両方で使われ、動詞（is / are）だけ変わります。集合名詞（例：staff, police）も間違いやすいですね。「staff」、「police」等は（ほぼ）常に複数扱いです。

Many staff were surprised by the appointment.　多くの職員がその任命に驚いた。
Police in this area are currently investigating 74 allegations.　この地域の警察は現在７４の訴えについて捜査している。

「ひつじ」は東京国立博物館で見ることができます。根付がお好きな方は以下の記事もどうぞ！
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