Kanji for Rabbit

兎 is the animal. It is read usagi and is the character for a rabbit or a hare, though modern Japanese very often writes うさぎ or ウサギ in kana instead, since 兎 is a name-list character rather than a Jōyō one.

卯 is the rabbit of the zodiac, the fourth of the twelve branches. It is read u, and a rabbit year is written 卯年. Outside the calendar it appears in 卯月, the old name for the fourth month of the lunar year, and in given names. It does not mean the animal anywhere else — a rabbit in a field is never 卯.

In Japan the rabbit belongs to the moon rather than to spring: the shape read into the full moon is a rabbit pounding rice cakes, which is why the animal turns up in autumn moon-viewing imagery instead of the Easter associations it has in English.