86 Shadowings 



man of Tsukushi (the ancient name of Kyushu) 

 fell sick and died while far away from home, 

 and that the ghost of him became an autumn 

 cicada, which cries unceasingly, Tsukusbi-koisbi! 

 - Tsukusbi-koisbi ! (" I long for Tsukushi ! I 

 want to see Tsukushi ! " ) 



It is a curious fact that the earlier semi have 

 the harshest and simplest notes. The musical 

 se'mi do not appear until summer; and the 

 tsuku-tsuku-bosbi, having the most complex 

 and melodious utterance of all, is one of the 

 latest to mature. 



VIII. TSURIGANE-SEMI. 1 



THE tsurigane-semi is an autumn cicada. The 

 word tsurigane means a suspended bell, espe- 

 cially the big bell of a Buddhist temple. I am 

 somewhat puzzled by the name ; for the insect's 

 music really suggests the tones of a Japanese 

 harp, or koto as good authorities declare. 

 Perhaps the appellation refers not to the boom 

 of the bell, but to those deep, sweet hummings 

 which follow after the peal, wave upon wave. 



1 This se"mi appears to be chiefly known in Shikoku. 



