Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo Page #2

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they don't go very fast.

But if they sting you, it's a big deal.

So that is why I always have this plastic

thing, I hit it with this and knock it down.

- So that can be a cage or a weapon.

- Yeah, it's saved me so many times.

There is a hornet behind you.

After we get rid of it, let's look there.

Do you know the Japanese saying?

"It's better not to touch a God".

Insect melody has been

celebrated in Japan

as one of the great

pleasures of autumn.

Just as places famous for cherry blossoms

are still regularly visited by

tens of thousands of people each year,

solely for the pleasure

of seeing the blooming flowers,

so, historically, the people

of Japanese cities

trekked to certain

resorts in the countryside

that were known for the

chirruping choruses of crickets.

Different species of crickets sing in different tones

and each one was prized for its distinct voice.

Certain species in particular were singled

out as representatives of strong emotions

or highlights of a particular atmosphere.

The Japanese regularly celebrated,

through verse,

the perfect clarity with which the insects

could convey their mood:

Always more clear and shrill,

as the hush of the night grows deeper,

the Waiting-Insect's voice;

And I that wait in the garden,

feel enter into my heart

the voice and the moon together.

From Chomon-Shu,

written in the 13th century,

there is the first literary record

of the recreation of insect-hunting

for these beloved singing crickets.

The emperor ordered his

pages and chamberlains

to go to Sagano

and find some insects.

The emperor gave them a cage

of network of bright purple thread.

All, even the head-chamberlain

and his attendants,

went on horseback

to hunt for insects.

Tokinori Ben proposed to the party

as they rode to Sagano,

a subject for poetical composition.

The subject was, "Looking

for insects in the fields".

In the evening they returned to the palace.

The cage was respectfully presented

to the Empress.

There was sake drinking

in the palace that evening;

And many poems were composed.

I look back at these specimens and

each one tells a particular story for me.

Like this one here: This Red Admiral.

It's not a particularly good specimen.

But when I look at it, I can immediately

remember where I was, at what time...

what the weather was like,

what I was feeling.

It's sort of like a diary, in a way.

I can look back at these specimens

and they tell a story for me.

The art of the Zen garden,

at its height when the Chomon-Shu

was written,

created new ideas about the presentation

of and interaction with nature.

The gardens were laid out in rectangles

with large rocks as islands

and white pebbles or sand as the ocean,

rippling against the islands

in a motionless eternity.

Similar to haiku,

the gardens were meant

to be a representation of the universe,

scaled down to allow for the

contemplation and mediation of its nature.

The miniaturization of everyday objects

and the shrinking of worlds,

as with Zen gardening or bonsai,

lends itself to the exposition

of nature's smallest creatures.

Insects, which could easily have been the

inhabitants of these diminutive universes,

could be loosely recognized as their translators,

beings that held all of the truths of nature

in their tiny, delicately ergonomic lives.

In the Nihon Shoki,

the legendary account of Japan's

beginning written in the 8th century,

there is a well-known story of a dragonfly.

Emperor Jimmu, Japan's fabled

first emperor, is out hunting.

While resting a gadfly appears and bites him.

Within moments, a dragonfly proceeds

to catch and eat the gadfly.

The emperor is so pleased,

he commands a poem to be written.

As none of the hunting party

were bold enough to compose an ode,

the emperor himself took on the task.

"Waiting for the game

Whilst I was standing,

My arm in the fleshy part

Was stung by a gadfly;

But soon a dragonfly

Did bite that gadfly.

That in this wise

It should be famous,

The Heaven-Filling

Land of Yamato

Was called the Land of the Dragonfly".

From this, Japan became known as such

and the dragonfly remains an

emblem of the empire to this day.

It just pupated!

Welcome to the cage!

Okay. Here are the three brothers.

Twinkling, rainbow Kuwagata beetle...

Are they married yet?

Isn't he cute?

You're a nice kid, huh?

Kabuto team won!

This one is weak - oh!

Here they go, they're fighting!

Let's go meet the kids upstairs.

The three of us are going to be magicians.

It's good. There are three of them

and three of us.

And three plus three equals six.

Three plus three equals nine...

- No, six.

- Yeah, 96.

Are you stupid or what?

He's dancing!

- Who wants a Kabuto Beetle?

- Hai!

Cicada!

All teachings of Buddhism,

introduced in the 6th century,

developed in conjunction with

the existing, ancient religion Shinto.

Shinto is based on nature's inherent

harmony and animism,

the belief that everything in nature -

trees, mountains, rivers, animals,

all have spirits.

Natural phenomenon,

like waterfalls and lightning storms,

were venerated as manifestations

of these powerful spirits.

The Japanese believed that man

was interrelated with the natural world

but that nature was indifferent to man.

Yet they held highly positive views of nature

and celebrated the perpetual and

infallible changing of the seasons

as proof of nature's own living existence.

Shinto encouraged harmony,

purity

and sincerity,

but did not expound defined doctrines,

so when Buddhism began to take hold,

its teachings were quickly and thoroughly

intertwined with the existing

Shinto beliefs.

The teachings of Buddhism center

around the concept of reincarnation:

The cycle of birth, death and rebirth,

which was heavily tied to the

Shinto confidence in nature's seasons,

and into Shinto's animistic beliefs,

in the possibility of being reborn

as any living creature,

including insects.

In Buddhist thought

it was considered a transgression

to destroy even a blade of grass

by trampling on it.

Everything living and growing

was embraced by

and incorporated into the deity.

Fireflies have often been seen

to gather on a willow in great swarms.

Some nights one may have

seen a willow drooping with fireflies,

so thickly did they coat the tree

that its branches were said

to be budding fire.

It was thought that all trees

have their unique spirits;

but the willow tree is the tree of the dead,

the favorite of human ghosts.

Any firefly could then easily be the

ghost of some deceased relative.

Legend states that the two primary

species of firefly

are the ghosts of the warriors

of the two main feuding clans,

the Genji and the Heik,

that ruled during the Helan period.

The fireflies are thus named after the clans

and are said to fight great battles

on certain nights of the year.

I bought this Ferrari with money

I made selling beetles.

If this hornet stings you, you will die.

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