＜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
I previously wrote an article about “interesting stories related to butterflies,” and indeed, butterflies are one of the most familiar insects to us.
Insect collecting doesn’t seem to be as popular these days, but when I was a child, I often chased cabbage white butterflies in the grass.
I also enjoyed watching the various swallowtail butterflies that came to sip nectar from the flowers in the garden.
Incidentally, while butterflies have long been familiar insects to Japanese and Chinese people, there are surprisingly few proverbs, idioms, and compound words that include the word “butterfly.”
1. Proverbs and Idioms that include “butterfly”
(1) The Butterfly Dream (kochō no yume)
“The Butterfly Dream” refers to “a situation where the distinction between dream and reality is unclear; also, a metaphor for the transience of life.”
This saying is based on a story from Zhuangzi’s “On the Equality of Things,” where Zhuangzi, after waking from a dream in which he became a butterfly, could no longer distinguish whether he was the butterfly in his dream or whether the butterfly was the one who had become him in his dream.
The question is not which is the true form; when he is the butterfly, he is the butterfly, and when he is Zhuang Zhou, he is Zhuang Zhou. Both are true, and they are still himself. Rather than debating which is the true world, he argues that one should affirm and accept both and live contentedly in each state.
(*) 栩栩然: Like flying wings, moving freely and actively, in a joyful manner.
This story clearly illustrates Zhuangzi’s ideas of “non-action and naturalness (leisurely wandering)” and “the equality of all things.” This refers to a state of freedom not bound by a sense of purpose, and he argues that reaching this state allows one to live a free life in harmony with nature.
In his other stories, he presents concepts that appear to be in opposition to reality, such as “right and wrong, life and death, great and small, beautiful and ugly, noble and base,” but these are merely products of human “knowledge,” and he says they are “nothing more than an illusion.”
Incidentally, “Zhuangzi” refers to Zhuang Zhou (Zhuangzi) (c. 369 BC – c. 286 BC), a Taoist philosopher of the Warring States period in ancient China, and his writings are also called “Zhuangzi.”
(2) Butterflies and Flowers
This is a metaphor for doting on and cherishing a child. It mainly refers to a girl.
Example: A daughter raised with the utmost care and affection.
(3) To dance like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
This is an expression describing the boxing style of American professional boxer Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) (formerly known as Cassius Clay).
“Dancing like a butterfly” refers to his light footwork, and “stinging like a bee” refers to his sharp and precise jabs.
2. Compound words containing “butterfly”
(1) Hatsuchō (初蝶)
This refers to the first butterfly seen in the spring of a given year. It is a seasonal word for “spring” in haiku.
(2) Karachō (唐蝶)
This is another name for the swallowtail butterfly (Ageha-chō).
(3) Chōtsugai (蝶番)
These are metal fittings used to freely open and close hinged doors and box lids. They are called this because their shape resembles a butterfly.
(4) Winter Butterflies
While few people may have seen butterflies in winter, butterflies such as the Clouded Yellow, the small Lycaenidae, and the Blue Admiral (which inhabits woodlands) overwinter as adults. “Winter butterfly” is a seasonal word for “winter.”
Simply saying “butterfly” is a seasonal word for “spring” in haiku. However, large butterflies that mainly appear in summer, such as the Swallowtail butterfly and the Black Swallowtail, are seasonal words for “summer.”
There is also the term “autumn butterfly.” Butterflies seen in autumn include the Painted Lady (image below), Clouded Yellow, and the autumn form of the Common Swallowtail.
(5) Butterfly Crest
Taira no Kiyomori’s family crest was “Maru ni Agehacho” (a swallowtail butterfly within a circle). The Taira clan also frequently used the “butterfly crest.” Oda Nobunaga also used the “Agehacho crest” as a secondary crest.
Besides the “Agehacho crest,” there are various other variations of the “butterfly crest,” as follows:
