Its population has been in consistent decline since the 1970s due to factors including habitat destruction and predation, but the most widely cited cause is overhunting.

Those, as well as other taxonomic changes he proposed, were termed by a United States Fish and Wildlife Service report as "not in accordance with sound systematic practice".

[16] It is a large pheasant with a rich coppery chestnut plumage, yellowish bill, brown iris, and red facial skin.

[18] The plumge of the chicks is, overall, chesnut, with some darker patches of brown on the back of the neck and cream-coloured feathers on the face.

[19] The copper pheasant is distributed in and endemic to the hill and mountain forests of the Honshū, Kyūshū, and Shikoku islands[2] at elevations of up to 1,800 metres (1.1 mi).

[1] The copper pheasant's mating season occurs between March and July, with the exact month depending local climate.

[29] The copper pheasant is used in an early 8th century poem by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro,[30] where it is used a metaphor for "the separation of lovers".

(Kakinomoto no Hitomaro)Several screens, dating to the eighth century and incorporating copper pheasant feathers, are kept in the Shōsō-in temple.

[32] Unidentified bones of either copper pheasants or chickens have been found at Japanese archaeological sites from the Kofun period.

[36] The Ijima subspecies is the official bird of the Miyazaki prefecture,[12]as well as a natural monument in the town of Asagiri, Kumamoto.

[37] As of 2024, the copper pheasant is the also the official bird of Japanese cities, towns, and villages of Hachimantai,[38] Higashinaruse,[39] Ichinohe,[40] Ikawa,[41] Iwaizumi,[42] Isehara,[43] Kamiyama,[44] Kanegasaki,[45] Karumai,[46]Kitaaiki,[47] Kunohe,[48]Kuzumaki,[49] Mihara,[50] Mogami,[51] Ōkura,[52] Okutama,[53] Shiiba,[54] Sumita,[55] Takayama,[56] Tanohata,[57] Tōno,[58] Yasuoka,[59] Yamakita,[60] and Yuzawa.

[64] From 1907 to 1914, there was a series unsuccessful attempts made by the Hawaii Board of Agriculture and Forestry to establish copper pheasants colonies on the Hawaiian islands.

[67] It was made illegal in the U.S. states of Nebraska[68] and Oregon[69] to hunt birds he had introduced, but a copper pheasant population was never established.

In 1976, to prevent further decline of the species, it was made illegal in Japan to hunt female copper pheasants.

[27] To allow for hunting, captive-bred copper pheasants are released every year throughout Japan,[70] including in regions such as Hokkaido and Sado Island where they are a non-native species.