There are few places on Earth like the paradise islands of Hawaii. Far and away, my favorite is the Big Island, whose geographic and human diversity is quite astounding.
About 20 miles north of Hilo is the coast village of Laupahoehoe. Not much distinguishes the small cluster of homes and the few stores on the main highway, but there is a remarkable scenic point on the lower shore, far beneath the cliffs that form the shore line. On April 1, 1946 a tidal wave, which originated in the Aleutian Islands, struck Hawaii and killed over 170 people, mostly in Laupahoehoe and Hilo where the wave heights averaged 30 feet. It wiped out the former village of Laupahoehoe once located a the foot of cliffs below the point, killing all of its known inhabitants. The place is marked by a memorial monument and the area is not a recreational seaside park.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
A psychocognitive and linguistic argument for the importance of biodiversity to humans
A psychocognitive and linguistic argument for the importance of biodiversity to humans
A translation and expansion of an article (in Japanese) by Dr. K. Okui, former Dean and Professor Emeritus
Kitasato University, Sagmihara, Japan
by David L. Brooks
Associate Professor, Kitasato University
Scholars, conservationists, ecologists from the far-corners of the globe have lent their collective support to argue for the preservation of biodiversity on this planet. Their reasoning is just, reflective, and conscientious.
Introduction The origin of the idea for this research came while I was a visiting researcher at New Zealand’s Waikato University in 1991 to investigate onychophoran. At that time, Professor Kenneth Henshall suggested that it would be interesting to compare cross-cultural awareness of nature through a study of the linguistic expressions involving insects. The following is a founding step for this ethno-entomological research. At this point there is not a defined research paradigm. Initially, this study serves to build such a foundation.
At first, we decided to compare linguistic items from Japanese and English related to how these groups grasp the meaning of insects. We simply list and explain many old sayings related to insects found in Japanese and English as a basis for comparing the two cultures’ perceptions of the value of insects and their relationships to humans. At the same time, Ray Harlow, an instructor at Waikato University, collected similiar expressions from the Maori language as a further cultural sample for comparative reference. All of this raw data has been collected as the basic material for subsequent development of a research structure in ethno-entomology.
Grasping the concept of “mushi”
Central to the psycho-cognitive schema in the Japanese paradign of man’s relationship to nature is the concept that humans are fully integrated components of the complex system of life on earth. Not only are organisms interdependent with man, but it is a ingrained in the Japanese values that biological organisms frequently form symbiotic life patterns with humans. This thinking is most clearly observed in the concept of mushi. Strictly speaking, the word “mushi” as used in everyday conversation among the Japanese does not always refer strictly to a member of the insect family as defined by taxonomy. There are few cases in the usage of “mushi” where the animal, whether it be insect, worm, or other form of animal life, is clearly identified. Rather, there are many more occassions when the word ‘mushi’ expresses a vague or ambiguous life form whose nuance of meaning is more expressive than its actual definition. The distinction is equally missing in written Japanese as well, which is derived from Chinese characters. A wide variety of organisms are generally grouped together in colloquial Japanese by name and category because they all possess the same lefthand character radical, called ‘mushi-hen’ (’虫--> 蛇).
[For a comprehensive reference detailing for the scientific taxonomy of these organisms grouped together as ‘mushi’, one could consult The Big World Museum Picture Encyclopaedia, vol. 1, by Hiroshi Aramata. ]
According to Henshall, the tendency to generalize the word ‘bug’ to represent a broad array of organisms is similar in English. Henshall recognized, however, that the use of ‘bug’ when compared to the its Japanese equivalent ‘mushi’ tends to be limited to describing creatures of the insect family, whereas ‘mushi’ often includes microorganisims, snakes, crabs, or octopus, in addition to insects. He believed that for the Japanese, almost all the creeping, crawling creatures known as ‘mushi’ are treated as insects. It is likely that Henshall drew this conclusion because there are so many Chinese characters or kanji in the Japanese language that use the ‘mushi’ radical and also from the fact there are a large number of idioms, adages, and set expressions which use the concept of ‘mushi’. For example, there is an expression in Japanese which means to ‘hate like poision’ or to possess an abominable hatred. This expression, ‘dakatsu no gotoku’ uses the kanji for snake and scorpion, both of which are written with the ‘mushi’ radical. Obviously, neither of these is an insect, but the expression illustrates how “mushi” occurs throughout the Japanese language.
Because there are an enormous number of such cases where the ‘mushi’ radical is used in kanji, it would be impractical to include them all in this analysis. Instead this study will limit its analysis to instances where the meaning of ‘mushi’ is either clearly an insect or to those cases where a vague ill-defined reference to an organism eliminates its confusion with a specific non-insect species. For example, Japanese refer to ‘hara no mushi’, which is actually closer in nature to the tapeworm, as the belly-bug or stomach-worm. Even though it is not classified taxonomically as an insect, it is treated in colloquial language as one.
The core of this study focuses on an analysis of the dictionary entries under the heading of “mushi”. In a most general sense, “mushi” indicates a member of the insect family, but its usage also encompasses a large variety of other non-insect species. By way of explanation about Japanese common taxonomical appellation, it appears that animals whose characteristics or qualities make them attractive or familiar to humans are usually given names which are distinctive or unique for each species. Examples of animals with such names include: dog, cat, lion, chimpanzee, and even some insects whose names do not include “mushi”, such as the cicada and swallowtail butterfly. However, a host of other creatures are often lumped together in the rather broad, ill-defined group called “mushi”. Typical members of this second category include ,not only a great many insects, but also a large number of diverse types of organisms such as single-celled organisms, various other arthropods, nematods, annelieds, rotifers, and even mollusks.
The Japanese name for a paramecium, for example, is zorimushi. Zori signifies the shape of the traditional Japanese sandal of the same name. Like many lower order animals, it is grouped together with many other genus in the single category, “mushi.”
A particularly unique example of the use of “mushi” is to be found in the expression, hara-no-mushi meaning stomach-worm or belly-bug, as mentioned previously. The English translation here is simply a rather imprecise approximation because the concept of “mushi” cannot be clearly defined as either an insect, worm, nor any other specific biological name. The hara-no-mushi is typically blamed in colloquial Japanese for stomach pain; however, it is more often cited in a more general sense as the cause of one’s behavior or disposition. In traditional Japanese thinking, the hara (abdomen, belly, or gut) is generally associated as the seat of one’s emotional states, especially those of anger, desire, will, pain, hunger, patience, or intuition. In a sense, the hara-no-mushi is a kind of non-lethal, sometimes even beneficial, parasite which appears to live symbiotically within its human host. Many an old wive’s tale blames the hara-no-mushi for a person’s foibles and almost as often attributes to it a person’s admirable or valuable characteristics. Actually, there are many ‘mushi’ associated with many parts of the body. It is perceived that an unknown and ill-defined organism inhabits the body inducing both positive and negative effects.
Similarly, there exists a related expression in Japanese, “shishi-shinchu-no-mushi”. Literally, it translates -- the bug/worm/creature within the lion’s body. This expression is comparable to the English phrase, “the snake in one’s bosom,” describing a treacherous friend or the traitor from within. Again, the expression uses the ambiguous term “mushi.” Not only is it unclear what kind of organism is involved, it is equally vague as to where this creature is located and whether it is to be found internally or externally.
At this point, having decided what type of expressions to collect, it began to become difficult to locate expressions in colloquial Japanese which strictly specified insects. More often than not, it appears that the use of insects tends to connote some kind of bad, offensive, or negative meaning. Professor Henshall mentions that the connotation of insects in various English expressions falls into three categories: good, bad, and neutral in a ratio of 1-5-3 respectively.
A comparison with expressions in English
Though there are many expression involving insects which are commonly used in the English-speaking world, each of the English-speaking nations has its own particular forms and idiosyncracies. Sometimes these differences are interesting, especially when compared with Japanese expressions. In a very general sense, most English expressions involving insects tend to avoid bugs which are noisy. For example, in Australian English, there are no expressions which use the mosquito. Likewise, in New Zealand where the sand fly, butterfly fly and other small blood-sucking insects are prevalent, there are, oddly enough, no expressions which make reference to these insects. On the contrary, in Japanese the word urusai is used to describe a person who is annoyingly loud or bothersome by talking too much. The kanji for this word can be written as “the fly in May” -- a reference to the loud buzzing of house flies ubiquitous in late spring.
[ insert English expressions ] Similarly in English, the word “worm” is used rather ambiguously to name some organisms which are not at all worms, such as ringworm, silkworms and bookworms.
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