Firefly (Hotaru)
A beetle familiar in Japanese life and culture through firefly hunting and in the legend of firefly battles
Hotaru is the Japanese general term for beetles of the firefly family (Lampyridae). About 2,000 species inhabit the world. Its body is generally oblong, black overall, and red around the chest. In Japan there are about 40 known species, among them the Genji firefly (body length about 15 mm), the Heike firefly (about 8 mm), the Hime firefly (about 7 mm), and the Kumejima firefly. About 10 of these species have a luminescent organ in the abdomen that emits a pale blinking light.
       Genji fireflies and Heike fireflies are particularly well known and are targeted in firefly hunting and are also bred. These two species live in clear streams as larvae and emerge from the larva stage from May to June. There are also many terrestrial fireflies, such as Hime and Mado fireflies. Some species emit little light, some species emit light in the daytime, and some species emit light in the middle of winter. Other Japanese names for fireflies include hotaro, houtaro, and natsumushi.
       In Nihon shoki (Chronicles of Japan, 720), the majesty of a god is likened to the glow of a firefly, and in the poetry collection Man'yoshu (Collection of Myriad Leaves, after 759), hotaru is used as a pillow word (poetic epithet) of honoka (dimness). In the Heian period, many waka poems feature fireflies. The poets likened the stars in the night sky and nighttime fishing fires to "fireflies on the riverside." In love poems such as those that appear in Kokin wakashu (Collection of Japanese Poems of Ancient and Modern Times, ca. 905), poignant memories burning in one's breast were likened to the flickering lights of fireflies. And, as is well known, The Tale of Genji has a chapter titled "Hotaru" (Fireflies).
       In some legends, fireflies are regarded embodying a soul. To give one example, it is said that the ghost of Minamoto no Yorimasa flies around the Uji River as innumerable fireflies. In the evenings of early summer, fireflies engage in a mating frenzy around the Uji River. To the Japanese, this mating frenzy resembles a firefly battle (hotaru gassen).
       Fireflies are a summer tradition. Firefly hunting is depicted in the picture book series Settsu meisho zue (Pictures of Famous Places of Settsu Province), and Utagawa Kuniyoshi, in his ukiyo-e print series Shiki yuran (Four Seasons Tour), has a print titled Suzumi no hotaru (The Fireflies of Suzumi). Also, according to Kitagawa Morisada's Morisada manko (Morisada's Manuscripts on Folkways), an encyclopedia of Japanese folkways of the Edo period (1603-1867), when insect sales were popular in the Edo period, fireflies were the top seller.
       In the Japanese language, there are many phrases associated with fireflies, for instance, keisetsu no ko (to diligently study through cold winters and in summers by the light of fireflies), hotarubi (the remaining charcoal embers), and hotaru hatsuka ni semi mikka (20 days for fireflies and 3 days for cicadas, meaning just for a short season). In the Edo period, a prostitute who pulled the sleeves of passers-by in the Gion neighborhood of Kyoto was called a firefly.
       The Ichinosaka River and Fushino River in Yamaguchi City are known as Genji firefly habitats, and the grassland of the outer moat of Nagoya Castle is an extensive Hime firefly habitat, rare in an urban setting.
Related People, Things and Events
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Firefly drawings in paintings and on craft works
Firefly drawings on nishiki-e (colored woodblock prints)
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