JAPANESE MUSIC-MAKING INSECTS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1651, 21 October 1903, Page 4

JAPANESE MUSIC-MAKING INSECTS

Perhaps no people appi'eciate music nior o than the Japanese, and the represen ta cive in Washington oi the Land of the Chrysanthemum has signified his intention to bring to that city some of the sweet jsi’nging insects of Japan,. Recently Mrlme. Takahira, the wife of the Japanese Minister, talked interestingly of these singing insects of her native home. “During th months of May and June,” she said, “you may see suspended in the verandahs of houses in Japan litcle cages of bamboo, from which break upon the silence of the twilight strange little whistlings of metallic modulations and light trills which, fill the air with a, delicate and most delightful music. It is the habit of our people in the early evening to quietly sit and listen to the shrill but delightful concerts of these insects. It is a music which lias a sadi but petculiarly impressive charm, andi I should like so much, if we could have some of these songsters here. You have many > pretty song birds in America., but I can fine none which, I think, give me half the pleasure and comfort that the singing insects from my own home would. The fnost prized of these insects —and it seems almost cruel to- call them insects — is the suzumrashh its name meaning dm sect bell/' anjd the sound which it> emits resembles that of a tiny silver bell of the sweetest and most delicate tone. The insect is not pretty, being a tiny black beetle, with a flat and ugly body, but its music is delightful. Another singing insect much esteemed in Japan is the kirigirisu, which is something like a large grasshopper, and which produces various strident sounds, altogether pleasing. Then there is the emamkorcgi, which is a kind of cricket—and the American crickets are so awfully funny. The kanban, which came originally from China, sings only at midnight, and is one of the most highly prized of our singing insects, ranking next to the kanetetaki, the song of which resembles the far-away ticking of a clock. There are a number of other singing insects, and for centuries our people have been, fond of their music. It is not an infrequent thing for our people to go in parties where the little musicians a,bound, sit on mats and drink tea while listening to the harmony of the little singers. In Tokio there are a; large number of merchants who deal in these singing insects, and so large has the trade in them grown that it is now necessary to‘ raise them by artificial means in order to supply the demand. Many of tb* insects have been successfully raised at distantpoints from their native home, and we shall try to see if they cannot be mads to live and flourish here.”