Traces of the old Castle of Hagi
Aug. 30 - Walking around the Hagi Castle ruins one morning, I heard a sound that was at once familiar yet different. It was unmistakably the rhythmic calling of a cicada, but this sound seemed louder and more insistent than cicada calls in my Tokyo garden.
A kind stranger sitting on a park bench reading a newspaper told me that a large cicada known as the bear cicada ("kumazemi" in Japanese) produced this loud racket.
(Wikipedia Photo)
These stone steps once led somewhere.
The kumazemi, he explained, lives only in western Japan. The largest cicada in the world, it can grow up to 9 cm in length. No wonder it sounded so loud!
I shall not soon forget scampering over the castle ruins with the songs of the bear cicada ringing in my ears.
Until next time,
Jim
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