Many persons in Japan earn their living during the summer months by
catching and selling fireflies: indeed, the extent of this business
entitles it to be regarded as a special industry. The chief centre of
this industry is the region about Ishiyama, in Goshū, by the Lake of
Ōmi,--a number of houses there supplying fireflies to many parts of
the country, and especially to the great cities of Osaka and Kyōtō.
From sixty to seventy firefly-catchers are employed by each of the
principal houses during the busy season. Some training is required
for the occupation. A tyro might find it no easy matter to catch a
hundred fireflies in a single night; but an expert has been known to
catch three thousand. The methods of capture, although of the simplest
possible kind, are very interesting to see.
Immediately after sunset, the firefly-hunter goes forth, with a long
bamboo pole upon his shoulder, and a long bag of brown mosquito-netting
wound, like a girdle, about his waist. When he reaches a wooded place
frequented by fireflies,--usually some spot where willows are planted,
on the bank of a river or lake,--he halts and watches the trees. As
soon as the trees begin to twinkle satisfactorily, he gets his net
ready, approaches the most luminous tree, and with his long pole
strikes the branches. The fireflies, dislodged by the shock, do not
immediately take flight, as more active insects would do under like
circumstances, but drop helplessly to the ground, beetle-wise, where
their light--always more brilliant in moments of fear or pain--renders
them conspicuous. If suffered to remain upon the ground for a few
moments, they will fly away. But the catcher, picking them up with
astonishing quickness, using both hands at once, deftly tosses them
_into his mouth_--because he cannot lose the time required to put them,
one by one, into the bag. Only when his mouth can hold no more, does he
drop the fireflies, unharmed, into the netting.
Thus the firefly-catcher works until about two o'clock in the
morning,--the old Japanese hour of ghosts,--at which time the insects
begin to leave the trees and seek the dewy soil. There they are said to
bury their tails, so as to remain viewless. But now the hunter changes
his tactics. Taking a bamboo broom he brushes the surface of the
turf, lightly and quickly. Whenever touched or alarmed by the broom,
the fireflies display their lanterns, and are immediately nipped and
bagged. A little before dawn, the hunters return to town.
At the firefly-shops the captured insects are sorted as soon as
possible, according to the brilliancy of their light,--the more
luminous being the higher-priced. Then they are put into gauze-covered
boxes or cages, with a certain quantity of moistened grass in each
cage. From one hundred to two hundred fireflies are placed in a
single cage, according to grade. To these cages are attached small
wooden tablets inscribed with the names of customers,--such as hotel
proprietors, restaurant-keepers, wholesale and retail insect-merchants,
and private persons who have ordered large quantities of fireflies
for some particular festivity. The boxes are despatched to their
destinations by nimble messengers,--for goods of this class cannot be
safely intrusted to express companies.
Great numbers of fireflies are ordered for display at evening parties
in the summer season. A large Japanese guest-room usually overlooks
a garden; and during a banquet or other evening entertainment, given
in the sultry season, it is customary to set fireflies at liberty in
the garden after sunset, that the visitors may enjoy the sight of the
sparkling. Restaurant-keepers purchase largely. In the famous Dōtombori
of Ōsaka, there is a house where myriads of fireflies are kept in a
large space enclosed by mosquito-netting; and customers of this house
are permitted to enter the enclosure and capture a certain number of
fireflies to take home with them.
*
The wholesale price of living fireflies ranges from three sen per
hundred up to thirteen sen per hundred, according to season and
quality. Retail dealers sell them in cages; and in Tokyo the price of
a cage of fireflies ranges from three sen up to several dollars. The
cheapest kind of cage, containing only three or four fireflies, is
scarcely more than two inches square; but the costly cages--veritable
marvels of bamboo work, beautifully decorated--are as large as cages
for song-birds. Firefly cages of charming or fantastic shapes--model
houses, junks, temple-lanterns, etc.--can be bought at prices ranging
from thirty sen up to one dollar.
Dead or alive, fireflies are worth money. They are delicate insects,
and they live but a short time in confinement. Great numbers die in
the insect-shops; and one celebrated insect-house is said to dispose
every season of no less than five _shō_--that is to say, about one
peck--of dead fireflies, which are sold to manufacturing establishments
in Osaka. Formerly fireflies were used much more than at present in
the manufacture of poultices and pills, and in the preparation of
drugs peculiar to the practice of Chinese medicine. Even to-day some
curious extracts are obtained from them; and one of these, called
_Hotaru-no-abura,_ or Firefly-grease, is still used by woodworkers for
the purpose of imparting rigidity to objects made of bent bamboo.
A very curious chapter on firefly-medicine might be written by
somebody learned in the old-fashioned literature. The queerest part of
the subject is Chinese, and belongs much more to demonology than to
therapeutics. Firefly-ointments used to be made which had power, it was
alleged, to preserve a house from the attacks of robbers, to counteract
the effect of any poison, and to drive away "the hundred devils." And
pills were made with firefly-substance which were believed to confer
invulnerability;--one kind of such pills being called _Kanshōgan_, or
"Commander-in-Chief Pills"; and another, _Buigan_, or "Military-Power
Pills."
V
Firefly-catching, as a business, is comparatively modern; but
firefly-hunting, as a diversion, is a very old custom. Anciently
it was an aristocratic amusement; and great nobles used to give
firefly-hunting parties,--_botaru-gari_. In this busy era of Meiji
the _botaru-gari_ is rather an amusement for children than for
grown-up folks; but the latter occasionally find time to join in the
sport. All over Japan, the children have their firefly-hunts every
summer;--moonless nights being usually chosen for such expeditions.
Girls follow the chase with paper fans; boys, with long light poles,
to the ends of which wisps of fresh bamboo-grass are tied. When struck
down by a fan or a wisp, the insects are easily secured, as they are
slow to take wing after having once been checked in actual flight.
While hunting, the children sing little songs, supposed to attract
the shining prey. These songs differ according to locality; and the
number of them is wonderful. But there are very few possessing that
sort of interest which justifies quotation. Two examples will probably
suffice:--
(_Province of Choshū._)
Hotaru, koi! koi!
Koi-tomosé!
Nippon ichi no
Jōsan ga,
Chōchin tomoshité,
Koi to ina!
Come, firefly, come! Come with your light burning! The nicest girl in
Japan wants to know if you will not light your lantern and come!
(_Dialect of Shimonoséki._)
Hōchin, koi!
Hōchin, koi!
Séki no machi no bon-san ga,
Chōchin tomoshité,
Koi!
Koi!
Firefly, come! firefly, come! All the boys of Séki [want you to come]
with your lantern lighted! Come! come!
*
Of course, in order to hunt fireflies successfully, it is necessary
to know something about their habits; and on this subject Japanese
children are probably better informed than a majority of my readers,
for whom the following notes may possess a novel interest:--
*
Fireflies frequent the neighbourhood of water, and like to circle
above it; but some kinds are repelled by impure or stagnant water,
and are only to be found in the vicinity of clear streams or lakes.
The Genji-firefly shuns swamps, ditches, or foul canals; while the
Heiké-firefly seems to be satisfied with any water. All fireflies
seek by preference grassy banks shaded by trees; but they dislike
certain trees and are attracted by others. They avoid pine trees, for
instance; and they will not light upon rose-bushes. But upon willow
trees--especially weeping willows--they gather in great swarms.
Occasionally, on a summer night, you may see a drooping willow so
covered and illuminated with fireflies that all its branches appear "to
be budding fire." During a bright moonlight night fireflies keep as
much as possible in shadow; but when pursued they fly at once into the
moonshine, where their shimmering is less easily perceived. Lamplight,
or any strong artificial light, drives them away; but small bright
lights attract them. They can be lured, for example, by the sparkling
of a small piece of lighted charcoal, or by the glow of a little
Japanese pipe, kindled in the dark. But the lamping of a single lively
firefly, confined in a bottle, or cup, of clear glass, is the best of
all lures.
*
As a rule the children hunt only in parties, for obvious reasons.
In former years it would have been deemed foolhardy to go alone in
pursuit of fireflies, because there existed certain uncanny beliefs
concerning them. And in some of the country districts these beliefs
still prevail. What appear to be fireflies may be malevolent spirits,
or goblin-fires, or fox-lights, kindled to delude the wayfarer. Even
real fireflies are not always to be trusted;--the weirdness of their
kinships might be inferred from their love of willow trees. Other trees
have their particular spirits, good or evil, hamadryads or goblins; but
the willow is particularly the tree of the dead--the favourite of human
ghosts. Any firefly may be a ghost--who can tell? Besides, there is an
old belief that the soul of a person still alive may sometimes assume
the shape of a firefly. And here is a little story that was told me in
Izuno:--
*
One cold winter's night a young shizoku of Matsuë, while on his way
home from a wedding-party, was surprised to perceive a firefly-light
hovering above the canal in front of his dwelling. Wondering that such
an insect should be flying abroad in the season of snow, he stopped
to look at it; and the light suddenly shot toward him. He struck at
it with a stick; but it darted away, and flew into the garden of a
residence adjoining his own.
Next morning he made a visit to that house, intending to relate the
adventure to his neighbours and friends. But before he found a chance
to speak of it, the eldest daughter of the family, happening to enter
the guest-room without knowing of the young man's visit, uttered a cry
of surprise, and exclaimed, "Oh! how you startled me! No one told me
that you had called; and just as I came in I was thinking about you.
Last night I had so strange a dream! I was flying in my dream,--flying
above the canal in front of our house. It seemed very pleasant to fly
over the water; and while I was flying there I saw you coming along the
bank. Then I went to you to tell you that I had learned how to fly; but
you struck at me, and frightened me so that I still feel afraid when I
think of it.. .." After hearing this, the visitor thought it best not
to relate his own experience for the time being, lest the coincidence
should alarm the girl, to whom he was betrothed.