BLOG

During the hot summer months in the Yokosuka City and Miura Peninsula areas, the buzzing, chirping, and keening sounds made by cicadas can be heard.  The cicada is a large, fly-shaped, winged insect, which makes a lot of noise, but does not bite or sting.  In Japanese, cicada is called: "semi" (蝉, pronounced: "seh-mee").  You can often see children with nets trying to catch semis or other insects, such as beetles, butterflies, praying mantis, dragon flies, etc. -- and for more information about Japanese bug catching custom, please click on the link below.  Semis have also inspired some cultural phrases and proverbs.  The sounds of all the semis singing together can be quite noticeable and even noisy, so it is like "A (rain) shower of cicada cries", or 蝉の時雨, (Semi no shi-gu-reh).  Another saying goes like this: 蛍二十日蝉三日, (Hotaru hatsuka, semi mikka) -- which can be translated as: "The firefly lives 20 days, the cicada 3 days", and its meaning is that, like short-lived summer insects, time passes quickly, life is evanescent.  Finally, there is: 夏の虫氷を笑う (Natsu no mushi ko-ri wo warau), which translates as "The summer insect laughs at the idea of ice", and means that some people, who have limited knowledge or experience, arbitrarily express their opinions or make fun of things they do not understand.  We hope you can stay cool during the hot Japanese summer days amidst the sounds of insects.

Written by Goodfield

- - - - -

LINK:

Bug Catching Culture in Japan

https://savvytokyo.com/bug-catching-in-japan-a-simple-summer-pleasure/