INTRODUCTION

From spring until late autumn each year in the countryside of Japan, many children (mostly boys) try to catch insects (mushi) using an assortment of tools. Most rural schools still ask their eight- to ten-year-old pupils, as homework during the summer vacation, to prepare a collection of insects. Books for children that deal with mushi are numerous and the information presented is very detailed. Children also seem to be the main target of the activities of the Japanese ‘insectariums’ (Yajima, 1990). Insects seem to be the first animals with which a child plays and by which he learns concretely about nature. These facts tend to show that in Japan mushi belong mainly to the child's world.

This chapter deals with the cultural status of the insects, or rather the ‘ethnocategory’ known as mushi to be specific (Laurent, 1995, 1998), in the world of the child in Japanese culture. The following questions will be addressed: What is the importance of mushi in the child's world, especially in teaching children about nature? What is the status of mushi for the child – toy, playmate, or even pet?

METHODS

In order to answer these questions, three kinds of research were undertaken. Firstly, the author acted as a participant observer during fieldwork in rural areas. Here, children's activities involving mushi were recorded: catching them, playing with them, observing them, listening to them, breeding them, singing songs about them, and collecting them for homework. These activities constitute the main data for this research.

Secondly, an analysis of the content of children's educational books about nature in general (in which the part devoted to mushi is sizeable) or about mushi in particular was carried out.

Lastly, interviews at the ‘Japan Pet Fair’ with representatives of companies selling mushi as well as tools and equipment for breeding were conducted, along with an analysis of the contents of their leaflets.

The economic importance of mushi in Japan can be seen through the selling of mushi and the assortment of implements to catch and breed them, in department stores and post offices.