Today’s vocabulary course is about insects and reptiles. There are quite a few bugs, a few reptiles, an amphibian and a few other animals that I managed to cram in to complete the list. As usual, if it is a purely Japanese reading, I put the hiragana, if it is a Sino-Japanese reading, I put the katakana.
The names of all these animals in kanji are quite complex for the Japanese to remember, which is why it is quite rare to find them in everyday life but it is important that you know them. The common point between all these insect names is that they have the same basic kanji that we find in key in their name, it is the kanji of "insect" that I put you below with its purely Japanese pronunciation and its Sino-Japanese pronunciation :
虫 .
むし .
チュウ, キ. Insect
This kanji, you will find it very often in key in almost all the kanji of the names of insects and reptiles present in the list below. It is also found in the name of an amphibian, even if an amphibian is not an insect basically.
Come on, let’s go !
蟻 .
あり
. the ant
火蟻 .
ひあり
. the fire ant
蝿 .
はえ
. the fly
蜂 .
はち
. the bee
蚊 .
か
. the mosquito
蝶 .
チョウ /
蝶々 .
チョウチョウ
. the butterfly
蜻蛉 .
とんぼ
. the dragonfly
蝗 .
いなご
. the grasshopper
蜘蛛 .
くも
. the spider
蠍 .
さそり
. the scorpion
黄金虫 .
こがねむし
. the beetle
甲虫 .
かぶとむし
. the rhinoceros beetle
天道虫 .
テントウむし
. the ladybug
毛虫 .
けむし
. the caterpillar
蝸牛 .
かたつむり / でんでんむし / カギュウ
. the snail
蛞蝓 .
なめくじ
. the slug
蛙 .
かえる
. the frog
雨蛙 .
あまがえる
. the green frog, the tree frog
青蛙 .
あおがえる
. the green frog
豹蛙 .
ヒョウがえる
. the leopard frog
蛇 .
へび
. the snake
アナコンダ
. the anaconda
蜥蜴 .
とかげ
. the lizard
大蜥蜴 .
おおとかげ
. the varan
カメレオン
. the chameleon
Before you leave, there are some things to say about most of the words you just saw, including the words "the dragonfly", "the snail", "the frog", "the lizard" "the varan" and "the grasshopper".
The word "the dragonfly" is written and pronounced 蜻蛉 . とんぼ. The pronunciation has no connection with the purely Japanese and Sino-Japanese readings of these two kanji.
The word "rhinoceros beetle" is written with the kanji 甲 . かぶと which, by itself, means "the helmet" and the kanji of 虫 . むし which, by itself, means "the insect". So, literally, an insect with a helmet.
In the word 天道虫 . テントウムシ which means "the ladybug", most of you will have recognized the last name 天道 . テントウ. A nod to Ranma 1/2.
The word "the snail" in Japanese can be written 蝸牛 and is pronounced かたつむり in purely Japanese or カギュウ in Sino-Japanese or even でんでんむし. A writing in kanji for three different pronunciations. A very rare case.
The word "the frog" is generally written 蛙 to refer to frogs in general. The word 雨蛙 . あまがえる designates a very specific category of frog, a tropical wood frog, with smooth fluorescent green skin and generally red eyes. Because of its green color, it is also called "the green frog" but there is another word to say it, it is 青蛙 which is pronounced あおがえる with the kanji of the color blue, 青. Remember, there are several lessons back, when we were studying the particular cases of kanji, we saw that the Japanese had at least four kanji to denote different shades of blue. The kanji 青 is used to designate both blue or green depending on the context.
The word "the lizard" is written and pronounced 蜥蜴 . とかげ. The pronunciation has no connection with the purely Japanese and Sino-Japanese readings of these two kanji.
The word 大蜥蜴 . おおとかげ literally means "the big lizard" with the kanji 大 which corresponds to the qualifying adjective "big". We will see the qualifying adjectives much later, but for now, remember that.
Regarding the word "the grasshopper", there are other different words for "the grasshopper" or "the locust" in Japanese. I gave you the most common word.
Like many other countries, Japan has folklore and legends that revolve around certain animals. Today I decided to tell you about the frog.
In Japan, frogs are called « カエル », which means « to return, to come back » in Japanese. There are many species of frogs in Japan, due to the flooding of rice fields in Japanese agriculture. It is said that these small amphibians are sometimes brought by travelers to return safe and sound from their trip. This is why adventurers sometimes carry frog amulets to return home safe and sound. The Japanese also like to slip a frog in their wallet to make sure the money comes back.
There is a temple in Japan, the Nyoirin-ji (如意輪寺), which is also nicknamed « the frog temple » because of its collection of more than 5000 frog statues. The origin of this collection dates back to the 90s. The high priest of the temple had gone on a trip to China. Returning to Japan, he brought back jade frog figurines as souvenirs. Why? Because the word « frog » and the word « to return, to come back » are pronounced the same in Japanese: カ-エ-ル. The priest probably wanted to have fun playing a pun.
Since then, the collection has grown every year with new frog statues; in stone, in jade... and of all sizes.
Now a well-known Japanese proverb: 蛙の子は蛙. Literally “children of frogs are frogs”. It is the equivalent of “like father, like son” or “like mother, like daughter”. However, since the tadpole differs in appearance from the frog, it further emphasizes that in the end, a child ends up looking like its parents. We can see a kind of fatality there and this proverb is rather used with a negative connotation.
The frog, like many other animals, is also present in Japanese poetry and in particular the haikus of Matsuo Bashō (松尾 芭蕉), a famous Japanese poet of the 17th century. Fun fact: 芭蕉 means "the banana tree", a funny pen name.
The dragonfly is also an insect with a very strong symbolism in Japan. The country is even sometimes called 秋津島 . あきつしま (Dragonfly Island). The origin of this name is not certain but it goes back, according to historians, to Emperor Jinmu.
Besides, the dragonfly was not always called 蜻蛉 . とんぼ. Before arriving at this name, the dragonfly was designated by all kinds of names in Japan. One of the oldest dates back to the Nara period (710-794) and it is 秋津 . あきず. 秋 . あき refers to the fall and 津 . つ at the port/harbour. Symbol of autumn in Japan, we usually see a lot of them between April and October (depending on the species). In any case, it was around the 9th-10th century that the pronunciation トンボウ became popular and then became トンボ.
Why トンボウ? There is an interesting hypothesis explaining that トン would be a derived form of the verb 飛ぶ . とぶ (“to fly”) and that ボウ comes from the kanji 棒 . ボウ which means “the stick”. The dragonfly would therefore be a flying stick. Funny idea but it's plausible. The problem is that the verb 飛ぶ . とぶ is a purely Japanese word and that 棒 . ボウ is a Sino-Japanese word. And since before the 10th century, this kind of mixture was still rare, it would be safer to think that ボウ would be a derived form of 羽 . はね (“wings”). Since the dragonfly is so specific in terms of its number of wings, it seems logical. The kanji 蜻 and 蛉 were chosen later and both mean “dragonfly”.
Moreover, in addition to the word トンボ, we find in everyday language other words to designate dragonflies. There is indeed a wide variety of species in Japan (about 200) and the largest are ヤンマ. For the smaller towns which are often red, there are the appellations 秋茜 . あきあかね (literally “autumn rubie”, “plant with red roots”) and 赤トンボ (“red dragonfly”).
Finally, the dragonfly was often affiliated with the samurai. Indeed, this insect symbolizes for the Japanese strength and courage, even victory. It even seems that it was for a long time called 勝ち虫 . かちむし, in English "the insect of victory". One of the main reasons for the attachment to the samurai is that the dragonfly has the particularity of always moving forward and never turning back. It can certainly « backtrack » but it always remains in front, like the samurai continually facing these adversaries without ever turning their backs on them, whatever the situation. His image was often used as decoration on samurai weapons (katana hilts, helmets, family crests, etc.). It has even given its name to combat positions, just as it has become the symbol of certain schools by appearing on their emblem, on the facade of the dojo, on their parchment.
In Japan, the butterfly is considered the "soul of the living and the dead", due to the popular belief that the spirits of the dead take the form of a butterfly on their journey to the next world and eternal life. This symbolism is well known in Japan as in the rest of Asia and even among Westerners. If you've ever read manga or watched anime, you may have seen this insect before, especially in pop culture works like Bleach from Tite Kubo. (久保 帯人).
These majestic flying insects also represent the blossoming of femininity in young girls. Butterflies also symbolize joy and longevity.
All these explanations are finally over! Keep in mind that it is quite common for animal names to be written in katakana, even when it comes to purely Japanese pronunciations. For example, if you search for the frog page on Wikipedia, in Japanese language, there is a good chance you will come across the name written in katakana. So don’t be surprised.
This course is now complete and I thank you for reading it. As usual, learn the vocabulary by heart, train tirelessly, stay motivated even when it’s difficult, don’t give up. I wish you good luck in your homeworks and look forward to your next course.
Introduction