Melinda Millard
Professor Moore
Literature 106-H51
21 September 2018
The Innocence of Childhood
“The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket”, is a short story, written by Yasunari Kawabata
in 1924 and is told in a first person narrative perspective in an almost fairy tale style. As this
story is approximately 1350 words in length, it can also be referred to as a “flash fiction.” First,
take into consideration the ethnicity of the writing as Japanese and American language are
worlds apart and meanings do not always translate as they are intended to. In order for the
reader to understand the meaning and importance of the characters, some Japanese history must
first be learned. However, regardless of where you live in the world, the innocence of childhood
is always sacred and beautiful.
The story begins with someone walking along the wall of a university next to a school
playground and hearing the sound of an insect coming from under a cherry tree. They are,
“Walking more slowly and listening to that voice, and furthermore reluctant to part with
it…”(Kawabata 410). In Japan there is a temple called Suzamushi-dera where people travel
from all around the world to visit to explore and meditate to the sound the bell cricket creates
with their wings and body vibrations. At the temple, these crickets are worshiped for the
representation of Buddha’s values. “Crickets have a very short life span of just a few months,
but each day they live fruitfully and enjoy life to its fullest. We can learn a lot from our buggy
friends”, said Velgus on the Japan Travel site.
The narrator never states if it is day or night however the line, “a dusky clump of bushes”
(Kawabata 410) implies that it is at least dusk if not dark out. We also know the sun is setting or
has set when the narrator sees the “bobbing cluster of beautiful varicolored lanterns” (Kawabata
410). The story starts to unfold of how it first begin with only one child who was on a personal
mission to locate the sound of an insect and rapidly it grew to twenty children, all ready, willing
and eager to track down and capture the evasive grasshopper.
The story seems to span over several days as the children return night after night to
participate in the great chase. When the story began with a single child, they had brought a red
lantern which was purchased from a store. After that first night, all the children began to create
their own lanterns from cutting up cartons, papering them and inserting a candle to the bottom.
They would create windows with many colors, shapes and patterns. Each day children more
bring supplies and make a new lantern, better than the days before. Many of lanterns were
identifiable by the letters which were cut out on them and the light shown through pushing their
names into the sky. This is largest part of the story when it comes to symbolism. The writer
uses approximately 375 words, over a quart of the story, to describe the colors and intricacies
which are used to construct the lanterns. In the Japanese culture, lanterns are symbols for good
luck. They currently still hold lantern festival in Japan and great effort is put into the making of
them.
A boy who we will learn is called Fujio, shot up onto his feet and yelled, “Does anyone
want a grasshopper?” Six or seven children immediately run up wanting to claim the insect as
their own. The boy seems to ignore them all and again call out, “Does any want a grasshopper?
A grasshopper” (Kawabata 410)? At this point, even more children run up screaming to be the
lucky winner of precious prize of a common insect. Again, they are all disregarded and he calls
out a third and final time, “Doesn’t anyone want a grasshopper” (Kawabata 410)? Finally a
graceful girl whom Fujio was trying to attract responds and asks for the grasshopper. She takes
his hands and wraps hers around his until he releases what turns out to be not a grasshopper, but
a bell cricket! The girl, Kiyoko, which literally translates to Pure Child, released the cricket into
her insect cage.
While watching this interaction, the narrator finally realizes what Fujio’s intentions were
and the feelings he possessed for Kiyoko which created some envy for the narrator, perhaps
remember what the innocence of a first crush felt like. Also, because he is standing to far back
from the activities, he can see everything from a different perspective then the rest of the
characters.
As Fujio holds the insect cage up to his face to peer into, and since it is eye level, he can
also glance at Kiyoko’s face. The light from his lantern, the name Fujio is projected onto
Kiyoko’s white cotton kimono while at the same time the light from her lantern is shining her
name onto Fujio’s waist. In that moment, they belonged to one another.
Even though neither of the children realizes that this has happened, the narrator watching
from afar sees this and is overcome with emotion. He wants to tell Fujio what he has already
learned over his decades of living and loving. He wants the boy to “laugh with pleasure at a
girl’s delight” (Kawabata 412) and appreciate her when she believes something to be more than
it is. He also heeds a wordless warning to Fujio that “probably you will find a girl like a
grasshopper whom you think is a bell cricket” (Kawabata 412). This is him saying, look for
someone who is not like all the others and is special only to you. At the same time, he feel
sadness with Fujio’s inability to know the interaction that was just witnessed and how special it
truly was as the one moment when she was his, and he was hers.
Works Cited
Velgus, Justin. “Kyoto’s Temple of …Crickets?” 20 November 2012.
https://en.japantravel.com/kyoto/suzumushi-dera/3198.
Kawabata, Yasunari. “The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket.” The Norton Introduction to
literature by Kelly J. Mays, W.W. Norton & Company, 2017, pp. 410-412