| Fireflies at Aioiyama by Lian Hearn |
| It
is almost completely dark. Monday 29th May. A night with no moon. The
sky glows with the lights of the city: it’s really so close but it
might be a million miles away. Occasionally we hear the wail of a siren
like a message from a distant world. Here in the forest there is hardly
any sound, no wind, no night birds. Even our footsteps are muffled. I
can hardly see anything as I follow F-san and K-san. Now and
then they stop and check the temperature and humidity by the dim light
of a torch. Fukui-san takes photos, and counts to himself. I have come to Aioiyama, outside the city of Nagoya, to see fireflies. I visited this place, a piece of forest around the temple Tokurinji, a few years ago and everyone told me about the fireflies. ‘You must come and see them,’ they said. ‘One day I will,’ I promised and now I am here at the end of May, and the fireflies (the himebotaru or princess fireflies) are here too. It’s like a pilgrimage, the fulfilment of a promise made to friends, made to myself. Somehow all my expectations are fulfilled – exceeded even. The fireflies are everything I had hoped they would be. Fukui-san and Kimura-san know the mountain intimately but it’s the first time I’ve been to these places. I don’t know their names or where they lie in relationship to each other but I want to remember them so I make up names for them. First is the ‘Deep Forest’. It’s very dark and we see lots of fireflies. The darker it is the brighter and larger they seem. I’ve seen many photographs now of fireflies. They are spectacular in themselves, but they do not really do justice to the true beauty of these tiny floating lights. The fireflies flash on and off regularly, in rhythm with each other, and in complete silence. We stand for a long time, enchanted. There is no one else here. It’s different at the next place which I call ‘Under the plum trees’. Here watching fireflies is a more social event. There are many local people out walking, some with their dogs. They stop and chat with each other, compare this year with last year. We sit down on the ground: it seems to be a better angle to see the fireflies beneath the low branches of the plum trees. Quite close to here is the ‘Empty Pool’, which was drained when houses were built in the neighbourhood. The Friends of Aioiyama want to have it refilled: the more humid the air the more it suits the fireflies. We walk back between the houses as quietly as possible: it’s nearly midnight and local people are trying to go to sleep. Next we plunge back into what I call ‘Deep Forest with steps’, and then we go to another orchard. This is a favourite spot with photographers and there are quite a lot of people, crouching or sitting on the ground. The fireflies look smaller though they are no less magical. After measuring and counting here we return to the forest – the ‘bamboo forest’ and then to what Kimura-san tells me is called ‘the Stage. This is the last place fireflies appear each season, but they are here. A little way from here in what I call ‘dark forest with canopy’ the mist is starting to creep over the mountain. It makes it look as if we are under a canopy of tree branches. They curve above us as if sheltering us and the fireflies that gleam below. It’s after 2.00am and time to go to bed. We stay the night at Tokurinji and fall asleep knowing that the fireflies are still flashing silently in the forest. It’s been unforgettable: the smell of the woods, the silence, the darkness, and the miraculous, flashing lights of tiny creatures. They are oblivious to us but they are not safe from us and our demands on their habitat. ‘This is where the road is going to be built,’ Fukui san says, as we walk through one of my “Deep Forests’. ‘Right here.’ Plans are already going ahead for this road. My joy at seeing the fireflies turns to deep sadness. I wonder if I will ever see fireflies at Aioiyama again. |
| Lian
Hearn , an Australian writer, visited Aioiyama recently. She
was impressed very much by the beauty of fireflies but her joy turned
to
deep sadness when she knew the fact that the road is going to be built
at Aioiyama. |