light seasonings: insects

[Editor's note: Light Seasonings is a regular bilingual feature of haijinx that consists of a dialog between Takashi Nonin and Carmen Sterba. Carmen's words will always be in the green shaded areas.]

(japanese version)

Carmen: When I was a child, I had a favorite tree. I used to make tiny houses out of leaves for the caterpillars that dropped from the tree into my space. They weren't the slimy green variety, just fuzzy orange and black caterpillars. I never kept an insect as a pet so it was something new for me once I came to Japan to see people buying beetles and containers for them. Takashi, please tell me about some of the experiences you had finding insects when you were a child.

My fond memories of insects date way back to my childhood when Japan was at war with the US. Although food and other necessities of life were in utter dearth, nature was exuberant and alive with all creatures. Locusts and fireflies teemed in the paddies and valleys. Mosquitoes sucked our blood at night, so we never slept without pitching a tent made up of hemp over the futon.

attacked
day and night
by planes and mosquitoes

a mosquito
lands on my empty belly
for a refill

Down below the skies swarming with B-29 Stratofortresses, various kinds of dragonflies sailed peacefully and sometimes perched on our heads, which meant a good omen that we would stay alive for the rest of that year. Several kinds of cicadas chirped all day long, from early summer through autumn. Catching dragonflies and cicadas with a bare hand was a special skill for a boy, and we took pride in it. On a summer evening we searched for larva cicadas creeping out of their holes and let them grow wings during the night at home. I would oftentimes get up early to catch newborn cicadas just about to fly away, looking around the bushes, precinct, and cemetery. We knew the right time and the changing seasons by watching what kinds of cicadas were in action. After school we went dragonfly or cicada catching, brandishing a hand-made net; and we often hurried home at the warning siren informing us of approaching enemy aircraft.

a ladybird—
a soldier I am
still alive

Atsushi Azumi (translated by Takashi Nonin)

[editor's note: A "ladybird" is the non-American name for a ladybug, not an allusion to Lady Bird Johnson]

In order for us to take in protein and calcium, it was our routine job to go to the paddies for locusts. Roasted and/or powdered locusts were tasty and rich in nourishment. Farmers were pleased because we helped to get rid of the locusts that fed off the rice plant.

About the time rice seedlings were transplanted into the flooded paddies, frogs began a choral chirping; and to their loud, concerted melodies fireflies emerged like lightning at dust. Children in a bunch thronged and went firefly-catching with a bamboo brooms and containers in their hands, singing the song, "Come on, fireflies! Water over there is bitter. Water over here is so sweet...."

We would often let the fireflies go in the mosquito net (kaya) and go to sleep looking at the twinkling bugs. In some areas of Japan the number of fireflies was so immense that people even feared that their lights might become a bombing target by enemy planes at night.

twilit village
waiting for darkness
with frogs and fireflies

like so many flare bombs
fireflies pop up
from the bushes

as the family goes to sleep
fireflies flutter
in the mosquito net

Shiki (translated by Takashi Nonin)

I cannot end my tale without referring to beetles which have fascinated children's hearts for ages. Today beetles are raised on a farm as merchandise and sold in supermarkets and DIY stores. Some rare and thorough-bred ones even cost a million yen and more! But this is an unusual phenomenon of modern times. Going into a woods to look for them is the most enjoyable pastime for children and their parents during the summer holidays. How excited I was when I found a rainbow-coloured jewel beetle (tamamushi)! I was a small entomologist with a formalin injector at hand. Like the Chinese raise crickets (koorogi) in a cage, we too love to keep fireflies (hotaru), beetles (kabutomushi/kuwagata), noisy giant katydids (kutsuwamushi), bell-ring crickets (suzumushi), and even cicadas (semi). We must give them grass, water, cucumbers and eggplants to accommodate them comfortably in the cage. Today you can buy their balanced feed at a convenience store, but . . .

Carmen: I know what you mean. It is nicer to give them fresh fruit and vegetables. When my children were small we gave watermelon and cucumbers to their Japanese Beetles. We kept bell-ring crickets also, and though I don't remember what we fed them, I do remember their songs. The last insects that we ever kept as pets were a praying mantis pair. That was a disaster.

insect cage
a pregnant mantis
and extra legs

unpublished

Yes, and it is a sad story that before winter comes, all those captive bugs have to end their lives in an unwanted cell. During the summer little kids often travel with an insect container, and sometimes come back from their parents' country home carrying with them the beetles they have caught in the local oak grove. When the insect is dead, the kids build a little tombstone in the backyard. We believe in the saying: "Even an inchworm has its soul." Its English equivalent is, "Even a worm will turn." Summer slowly gives way and the first chirpings of crickets and katydids are the precursor of real autumn, followed by myriads of other insects as the fall mellows.

who told you tonight
the news of coming autumn?
katydid

Carmen: Our area in Japan is teeming with all kinds of insects in the summer because of the vast greenery and humidity. We don't have to catch or buy insects anymore. They find us.

overgrown bushes
little inchworm dangling
from my blouse

Asahi Haikuist Network, spring 1998

sleepless night
can't you change your schedule
relentless mosquito?

Asahi Haikuist Network, summer 1998

home from England
only mosquitoes waiting
at my front door

World Haiku Review, Vol. 1, Issue 1: May 2001

By the way, if you are interested in Japanese literature, you might refer to an ancient novel titled Tsutsumi Chuunagon Monogatari which was published around AD 1053~58 (author unknown). This book was probably influenced by the Tale of Genji (circa 1008). One of the chapters in the novel, "Mushi Mezuru Himegimi" ("The Princess Who Loves Insects"), tells of a young princess in the Imperial Court who dearly loves caterpillars and hundreds of other creatures. She cannot understand why people hate caterpillars which are destined to transform into beautiful butterflies. She says that she is treasured as though she were a flower or a butterfly. She also keeps mantes, snails, etc. and gives her men servants such nicknames as Mole, Cricket, Toad, Snake, Grasshopper, etc. for fun. One time a mischievous son of an aristocrat sends her a lifelike cotton snake, but she is never stunned but calmly reads a poem and chants a sutra. It is actually a deep tale influenced by Buddhist philosophy.

caterpillar
why in such a hurry?
something must've happened

There is also a good book, 101 Favorite Songs Taught in Japanese Schools written in English by Ichiro Nakano, published by The Japan Times (ISBN4-7890-0569-0). There are beautiful translations with lyrics and music from haiku. Nos. 5, 15, 29, 81, and 86 are on various kinds of insects in Japan.

kids and insects
singing out in chorus —
autumn has come