Rude awakenings come in all forms and shapes

Rude awakenings come in all forms and shapes

09/11/2007

The arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry's Black Ships in 1853 proved to be a rude awakening for Japan, jolting it out of more than two centuries of self-imposed slumber under the isolationist policy of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1867).

On a much more mundane level, there is nothing more annoying than having one's peaceful sleep disrupted by a buzzing mosquito. It's just my personal observation, but those pesky bugs seem to be out in greater force now than at the height of summer.

蚊の鳴くような声

Ka no naku yona koe, which translates literally as "a voice like the whining of a mosquito," is a Japanese idiom that describes a faint, barely audible sound that a mosquito makes. But for the fitful sleeper, the buzzing of a mosquito near one's ear packs enough decibel to jerk one awake.

In dawning consciousness, you swat at your cheek or wherever the offensive noise seems to be coming from. After doing this several times in vain, you are reduced to just swearing and pulling the covers over your head. But within minutes it gets too hot, and you kick off the covers, only to repeat the futile battle.

Obviously, mosquitoes have exasperated people for centuries, and Fujiwara-no Yoshitsune (1169-1206) complained bitterly in his poem: "On summer nights, I can't even get decent sleep because of the buzzing of mosquitoes around my pillow."

The Meiji Era (1868-1912) poet Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) also detested those bugs and called them "assassins," says Satoru Higuchi, a literary critic, in his book "Tanka Hakubutsushi" (History of tanka poetry) from Bungeishunju Ltd.

"You bumpkin mosquitoes," Shiki railed, "you were born somewhere deep in the bamboo forest and don't even know your parents. You lurk in the lavatory by day to sneak up on your unsuspecting victims, and by night you become assassins in the bedroom ... ."

Shiki's writing is humorous, but the poet undoubtedly bore a deep grudge against mosquitoes. "Your very existence is criminal," he lashed out.

There are some 100 species of mosquito in Japan. Global warming has apparently enabled some to move their habitats northward, and experts worry this could expand the areas that are at risk of mosquito-borne diseases.

Living in peace, we tend to forget that mosquitoes are actually dangerous bugs. It has been established that Japanese mosquitoes are capable of carrying the West Nile Fever virus that recently threw the United States into a panic.

Obnoxiously persistent and elusive as they are, it's probably not a good idea to throw in the towel and let them feast on us every night.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 9(IHT/Asahi: September 11,2007)

か ₀ 【蚊】

双翅目カ科の昆虫の総称。体長5ミリメートル内外。体と脚は細長く、口吻(こうふん)が長い。はねは二枚で細く透明。雌の成虫は人畜より吸血して痒(かゆ)みを与え、種によってマラリア・日本脳炎などの伝染病を媒介する。幼虫はボウフラ、蛹(さなぎ)はオニボウフラと呼ばれ、池沼や水たまりで生活する。日本にはアカイエカ・シナハマダラカなど約一〇〇種がいる。［季］夏。《わが宿は―のちいさきを馳走也/芭蕉》
――の食うほどにも思わぬ
全く影響を受けない。
――の臑(すね)
細くて弱々しいすね。
――の鳴くような声
蚊の羽音のようなかすかな声。
――の涙
量のきわめて少ないことのたとえ。