After a hot and muggy Summer in Japan, Autumn begins in September. Many Japaneseappreciate the Mid-autumn Full Moon, which is said to be the most beautiful full moon, and love to hear the chirps of crickets and grasshoppers. On a dark night in September, when I hear the fine song of insects in a garden, I feel Nature very close and intimate.

The chirps remind me of a song that we used to sing in a music lesson in my school, " Matsu-mushi began to chirp, chin-chiro chin-chiro, chin-chiro rin, ah Suzu-mushi began to chirp, rin-rin rin-rin riiin-rin". Matsu-mushi and Suzu-mushi are kinds of crickets, their names are familiar as singing insects in Japan. When I sang the song when I was seven or eight years old, I didn't know what they looked like, but I had a friendly feeling towards the chirps. When I was twelve years old, my grandmother was given Suzu-mushi by her friend and she enjoyed hearing the beautiful chirps every night in her room. I was in charge of taking care of them. While I replaced the old food (cucumber, egg plant or water melon), splayed misty water to make the soil wet, I watched the insects and the system of their chirps. Males only made a sound by rubbing thier wings to attract females.

Since the old days, people have loved to hear songs of insects and many traditional poets have composed poems about them. Even now, people can buy Suzu-mushi at a pet shop to hear their songs. I've heard that this custom is a peculiar to Oriental culture, what do you think ? I know the Aesop story titled "the grasshopper and the ants". In that story, the grasshopper plays music, so I think Western people consider chirps as music. Do you agree ?
(8th September 1996)