＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
(Reference) Original article in Japanese
When you think of butterflies, many people probably picture cabbage white butterflies or swallowtail butterflies, but there are many other interesting butterflies in Japan. There are also some interesting stories related to butterflies.
1. Cabbage white butterflies don’t land on cherry blossoms.
The lyrics of the children’s song “Butterfly” contain the following phrase:
Butterfly, butterfly, land on a leaf of cabbage, when you’re tired of the leaf of cabbage, land on a cherry blossom.
Land and play, play and land, from flower to flower of the cherry blossoms.
ちょうちょう ちょうちょう 菜の葉にとまれ 菜の葉にあいたら 桜にとまれ
桜の花の 花から花へ とまれよ遊べ 遊べよとまれ
The butterfly mentioned in this song is probably a cabbage white butterfly, since it’s springtime. However, cabbage white butterflies don’t land on cherry blossoms.
Of course, they do land on wildflowers like dandelions and fleabane to sip nectar.
Ecologically, cabbage white butterflies fly around to lay their eggs on the leaves of cruciferous plants such as cabbage and rapeseed, but they never land on cherry blossoms. This is because Somei Yoshino cherry trees do not yet have leaves to lay eggs on, and cherry leaves are not a food source for cabbage white butterfly larvae.
This song was created in 1881 as a “School Song for Elementary School Students.” The original lyrics are as follows:
Butterfly, butterfly, land on the cabbage leaves, when you’re tired of the cabbage leaves, play on the cherry blossoms.
In this age of prosperity, when the cherry blossoms bloom, land and play, play and land.
蝶々 蝶々 菜の葉に止れ 菜の葉に飽いたら 桜に遊べ
桜の花の 栄ゆる御代に 止れや遊べ 遊べや止れ
After the war, in 1947, the lyrics were changed to the version shown above. The original lyrics likely evoked pre-war imperial system and emperor worship, so the change was probably ordered by GHQ.
As I wrote in a previous article, “There are 3rd and 4th verses to ‘Hotaru no Hikari’! Post-war songs whose lyrics were erased, revised, or altered,” there were several other examples like “Chouchou” (butterfly).
The original lyrics likely used “Play with the cherry blossoms” as a prefatory phrase to lead into “the reign of prosperous cherry blossoms.” However, the post-war revisions treat “cherry blossoms” on the same level as “cabbage” or “rapeseed flowers,” which feels unnatural.
The person who wrote the original lyrics probably had a simple association: “Spring means cherry blossoms → Cherry blossoms mean Japan.” The person who changed the lyrics likely had no knowledge of the ecology of the cabbage white butterfly.
2. The Great Purple Emperor and the Blue Admiral are butterflies that gather at tree sap.
Many people believe that all butterflies feed on nectar from flowers and plants, but some butterflies also feed on tree sap. These include the Japanese Emperor butterfly (Great Purple Emperor) (image on the left above) and the Blue Admiral butterfly (image on the right above), both of which inhabit woodlands.
Tree sap is a liquid secreted from tree bark and has a sweet and sour, fermented alcohol-like smell. Beetles, scarab beetles, and wasps are also attracted to tree sap.
The Great Purple Emperor’s behavior at these “sap bars” (feeding grounds) is quite impressive; they are often seen swatting away wasps and other insects with their wings while sipping sap.
As a side note, the Blue Admiral butterfly overwinters as an adult.
3. Swallowtail butterflies lay their eggs on citrus leaves.
Like cabbage white butterflies, swallowtail butterflies perch on various flowers to feed on nectar.
However, they always lay their eggs on citrus fruits such as mandarins and Japanese pepper trees. This is because the larvae feed on the young leaves of citrus trees.
Just as cabbage white butterflies always lay their eggs on the leaves of Brassicaceae plants, swallowtail butterflies lay their eggs on citrus leaves. This shows they know exactly which leaves their larvae will eat, which, when you think about it, is a “mysterious ability of insects.”
4. Clouded Yellow butterflies overwinter as adults.
There’s a butterfly called the Clouded Yellow butterfly that looks very similar to the Cabbage White butterfly. By the way, while Cabbage White butterflies are only seen from spring to summer, have you ever seen a Clouded Yellow butterfly in autumn?
That’s because Clouded Yellow butterflies overwinter as adults. Just like the Blue Admiral butterfly.
5. Butterflies, which undergo “complete metamorphosis,” are also symbols of “reincarnation” and “immortality/immortality.”
I previously wrote an article about how the “Princess Who Loved Insects” in the Tsutsumi Chunagon Monogatari was a science-minded girl who loved natural science. As the princess marveled, butterflies undergo a magnificent transformation (complete metamorphosis) from “egg → larva → pupa → adult butterfly,” and have therefore been considered symbols of “reincarnation,” “immortality/immortality,” and “resurrection” since ancient times.
(1) Reincarnation
Butterflies are considered sacred because they are believed to carry the escaping soul to paradise, and are also symbols of reincarnation.
Incidentally, “reincarnation” is a Buddhist term that describes the continuous cycle of birth and death. “Reincarnation” refers to “a person repeatedly experiencing birth and death, like a wheel continuously turning.” “Rebirth” means “being reborn.” This is also called “reincarnation.”
(2) Immortality/Indestructibility
The mystical nature of the butterfly’s transformations made it a symbol of “immortality and indestructibility,” and it was favored by samurai. Butterfly motifs frequently appear in “The Tale of the Heike” and “The Rise and Fall of the Minamoto and Taira Clans.”
Incidentally, the family crest of Taira no Kiyomori (1118-1181) was “Maru ni Agehacho” (a swallowtail butterfly in a circle). The Taira clan also frequently used the “butterfly crest.”
While Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) is famous for his family crest, the “Oda Mokko,” he actually used seven crests, and claimed to be descended from the Taira clan, using the “Agehacho (swallowtail butterfly) crest” as a secondary crest.
(3) Resurrection
In the West, butterflies are also seen as a symbol of human life, death, and resurrection, and are believed to house the soul of a messenger.
In Greek, the word for butterfly is “psyche,” which originates from the name of a beautiful girl loved by Eros (Cupid) in Greek mythology. This name personifies the spirit (psyche), signifying soul and immortality.
In Greek mythology, Psyche overcomes various hardships, is granted permission to marry Eros, the son of Aphrodite (Venus), and gains eternal life, becoming a goddess.
This story is frequently depicted in sculptures and paintings.
