Week 24: “Rotten Grass Becomes Fireflies”

June 10 – June 16 is the 24th week of 2024.  This week, we have the Solar Term of Grain in Ear (June 05 – June 20), and the micro-season of “Rotten Grass Becomes Fireflies” (June 11 – June 15).

Basho, Issa, Buson, and Reichhold wrote the poems selected for this week.

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The 24 Solar Terms 

The 24 solar terms were created by farmers in ancient China  (206 BCE and 24 CE) to help guide their agricultural activities. Each solar term is 15 days long and is based on the climate around Xi’an, the capital of China during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE). ⁽¹⁾

Grain in Ear

Grain in Ear is the ninth Solar Term of the year and the third Solar Term of Summer. Mangzhong (芒种) is the Chinese name for this season. Mangzhong means “wheat with awn should be harvested soon, and rice seeds with awn can be sown”⁽²⁾  Awn is the bristles on the grain.  Grain in Ear is traditionally a busy time for farmers in China. 

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The 72 Seasons

The 72-season calendar was established in 1685 by Japanese astronomer Shibukawa Shunkai.  Each season lasts for about 5 days and offers “a poetic journey through the Japanese year in which the land awakens and blooms with life and activity before returning to slumber.”⁽⁴⁾

The micro-season for this week is  “Rotten Grass Becomes Fireflies” (June 11 – June 15).

Fireflies

Did you know that fireflies are not flies, but beetles? A unique characteristic of the beetle is that they have a hardened pair of front wings called elytra. The elytra protect a beetle’s flight wings. When a beetle flies, it opens its elytra to release its flight wings. If you have ever watched a ladybug (aka ladybeetle) take off, you have seen how the elytra open.  Fireflies do the same thing, but we usually don’t see it.

Fireflies belong to the Lampyridae family within the Coleoptera order of insects. There are about 2,000 species of insect in the Lampyridae family and most of them can emit light.

Lifecycle of the Firefly

Fireflies usually mate in April or May.  After mating, female fireflies lay their eggs below the earth’s surface.  In about three weeks, the eggs hatch, and the larva emerge.  

The fireflies can remain in the larva stage for up to two years.  During this time the larvae feed on other larvae, slugs, and terrestrial snails.  These larvae will hibernate over the winter months by burying themselves in the dirt or finding spaces behind the bark of trees.

The pupa stage is where the firefly transforms from larva to adult. This stage can last up to three weeks.

During the adult stage, the firefly looks to mate, lay more eggs, and then will die. This stage may only last two or three weeks.  

The Light of the Firefly

Fireflies produce light in their lower abdomen through a chemical process called bioluminescence. Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light from living organisms.

In fireflies, light is produced when two chemicals, luciferin and luciferase, combine with magnesium ions (also known as ATP) and oxygen. The ATP, luciferin, and luciferase are located in the lower abdomen, and oxygen is introduced through an abdominal trachea.

Fireflies use their light to communicate. Most commonly, males use unique blinking patterns to attract mates. However, fireflies also use their light to defend territory and warn predators.

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Astronomical Season

June 16, is the last day of week 24.  June 16 is 89 days past the spring equinox and 4 days until the summer solstice (June 20, 2024).  

Moon Phases

The Moon reached its first quarter phase on June 14th. The First Quarter is seven days after the New Moon and marks the first quarter of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth.  After the First Quarter, the Moon shifts to its Waxing Gibbous phase. During the Waxing Gibbous phase, the Moon’s illumination increases until it reaches the Full Moon. On June 16, the last day of this week, the Moon is in a Waxing Gibbous phase with 77% illumination. June’s full Moon will occur on June 21.

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Haiku and Kigo 

The kigo, or season word, is one of the key parts of the haiku.  The Yuki Teikei Haiku Society provides us with the following explanation for why we use kigo in haiku. 

“A kigo is a poetic device used in haiku to denote a season; it’s a powerful word or phrase that can conjure up many allusions, historical references, spiritual meanings, and/or cultural traditions. Its use in haiku, a poem of few words, is especially effective because of this power to expand its meaning beyond the literal and to create a larger aura of seasonal mood, historical/ literary context, and/or cultural implications.”⁽⁹⁾

Visit The Haiku Foundation’s “New To Haiku: What is a Kigo?” for more information

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This Week’s Kigo

In The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words selected by Kenkichi Yamamoto “firefly” and “lightning bug” are listed as summer kigo.

 In Jane Reichhold’s A Dictionary of Haiku,  “firefly” is also a summer kigo.

Looking at the World Kigo Database by Dr. Gabi Greves, the firefly (hotaru) is primarily a mid-summer kigo.  However, “Fireflies in Autumn” is a potential autumn kigo. 

The firefly holds various meanings in Japanese culture. Fireflies may represent the souls of warriors lost in battle or they may represent love and beauty.  Because of their short adult life, fireflies have also been known to symbolize the transitory nature of all things.  

With all this in mind, let’s read some haiku. 

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Basho

How foolish! In the dark 
I grab a thorn, mistaking 
it for a firefly 
(translated by Sam Hamill)

firefly’s glow 
disappears at daylight 
behind the pillar 
(translated by Jane Reichhold)

leaves of grass 
as soon as it drops it flies 
a firefly 
(translated by Jane Reichhold)

Issa

in the thick weeds
same as yesterday...
fireflies
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

the owl
seems to be hooting
for fireflies
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

he flips a page
of the Lotus Sutra...
a firefly flies
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

Buson

Education
emitted from the ass — 
a firefly
(translated by Allan Persinger)

Reichhold

lightning
fireflies above puddles
peek at themselves

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Haiku invitation

This week’s haiku invitation is to write a haiku or senryu about fireflies.

Share your haiku in the comments below, or post on your page and link back. I can’t wait to read what you write! 

Formatting Note:  To eliminate the spaces between the lines of your haiku, hit shift-enter at the end of the line.  For example:

line one (shift-enter)
line two (shift-enter)
the third line (shift-enter)

Thanks to LaMon for sharing these instructions!

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Thank You!

About the Haiku

Basho’s haiku were retrieved from “Matsuo Bashō’s haiku poems in romanized Japanese with English translations” Editor: Gábor Terebess.  Issa’s haiku were retrieved from David G. Lanoue’s Haiku Guy. Buson’s haiku was retrieved from Foxfire: the Selected Poems of Yosa Buson, a Translation by Allan Persinger. Jane Reichhold’s haiku were retrieved from the Dictionary of Haiku. 

1. “The 24 Solar Terms”; China Educational Tours
2. “6 Solar Terms of Summer”; China Educational Tours
3. 72 Seasons App
4. “Japan’s 72 Microseasons”; Nippon.com
5. “Firefly” Wikipedia
6. Cheyenne McKinley and Sarah Lower; “11 Cool Things You Never Knew About Fireflies”: Scientific America
7. “Beetle” Wikipedia