Page:Insect Literature by Lafcadio Hearn.djvu/230

Rh XVII.—Yūrei-tombo,—"Ghost Dragon-fly." Various creatures are called by this name,—which I thought especially appropriate in the case of one beautiful Calepteryx, whose soundless black flitting might well be mistaken for the motion of a shadow,—the shadow of a dragon-fly. Indeed this appellation for the black insect must have been intended to suggest the primitive idea of shadow as ghost.

XVIII.—Kane-tsuke-tombō, or Ohagūro-tombō. Either name refers to the preparation formerly used to blacken the teeth of married women, and might be freely rendered as "Tooth-blackening Dragon-fly." O-haguro ("honorable tooth-blackening") or Kane, were the terms by which the tooth-staining infusion was commonly known. Kane wo tsukeru signified to apply, or, more literally, to wear the stuff: thus the appellation Kane-tsuke-tombō might be interpreted as "the Kane-stained Dragon-fly." The wings of the insect are half-black, and look as if they had been partly dipped in ink. Another and equally picturesque name for the creature is Kōya, "the Dyer."

XIX.—Ta-no-Kami-tombō, "Dragon-fly of the God of Rice-fields." This appellation has been given to an insect variegated with red and yellow. 註