Latest newsletter: "Cicada"
June 18, 2018Here is a "Waka", Japanese traditional poem, written by KI no Tomonori,
compiled in Kokin Wakashu, (a collection of Japanese poems from the
9th century), No.751.
"Semino koe Kikeba kanashina Natsugoromo Usukuya hitono Naranto omoeba"
Interpretation: I feel sad when the summer comes and hear cicadas
singing as I get the feeling that Your interest in me might become very
faint like a summery thin kimono just like the cicada's wings along
with the arrival of autumn.
Just passed mid July at the time that the rainy sky turns to a summery
sky, cicadas crawl out aboveground after the long growing period in the
soil and let people know that summer has arrived with loud singing.
There is an episode in Meiji period (19c) in which that people who came
to Japan from Europe where not many cicada inhabited asked why Japanese
trees sing. It shows how much cicadas sing with their all strength in
hot summer in Japan.
Read the full article:
Feeling the transition: "Cicada"
Translation by: Hitomi Kochi, reviewed by Chan Yee Ting
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