How easily kindled, and how easily put out again, is the light of the firefly!
(Anonymous; quoted after L. Hearn, Kotto, Being Japanese Curios with Sundry Cobwebs, Cosimo Classics, New York 2007, p. 159)
Fireflies play an exceptional role in Japanese culture; they illuminate the pages of the Tale of Genji and flicker here and there in small poetic forms. Whole excursions were made to see them glow in the darkness of night, hovering above the rivers and canals, and catching them was considered an entertaining pastime. In woodblock prints, they dialogue as equals with the light sifting through the windows and with the moon itself.
Following the flickering light of the fireflies with (top to bottom, left to right): Tsukioka Kogyo, Fireflies, c. 1890–1900 [source]; Yamamoto Shoun, Firefly Hunting, early 20th c. [source]; Ito Sozan, Fireflies, c. 1900–1910 [source]; Watanabe Shoka, Fireflies [source]; Kobayashi Kiyochika, Fireflies at Ochanomizu, 1880 [source]; Kobayashi Kiyochika, Fireflies and Lighted House, 1930s [source]; Kobayashi Kiyochika, The Koromogawa River near Tennoji Temple, 1880 [source]; Takahashi Hiroaki, Fireflies, 1930s [source]; Utagawa Kunisada, Imaginary Scene of Actors Catching Fireflies: Jewels Shining in the Dark: Kataoka Gadō II, Ichikawa Kodanji IV (right); Iwai Kumesaburō III, Ichimura Uzaemon XIII (centre); Nakamura Fukusuke I, Bandō Takesaburō I (left), 1855 [source].
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