Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo Page #4

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the emperor himself took on the task.

"Waiting for the game

Whilst I was standing,

My arm in the fleshy part

Was stung by a gadfly;

But soon a dragonfly

Did bite that gadfly.

That in this wise

It should be famous,

The Heaven-Filling

Land of Yamato

Was called the Land of the Dragonfly".

From this, Japan became known as such

and the dragonfly remains an

emblem of the empire to this day.

It just pupated!

Welcome to the cage!

Okay. Here are the three brothers.

Twinkling, rainbow Kuwagata beetle...

Are they married yet?

Isn't he cute?

You're a nice kid, huh?

Kabuto team won!

This one is weak - oh!

Here they go, they're fighting!

Let's go meet the kids upstairs.

The three of us are going to be magicians.

It's good. There are three of them

and three of us.

And three plus three equals six.

Three plus three equals nine...

- No, six.

- Yeah, 96.

Are you stupid or what?

He's dancing!

- Who wants a Kabuto Beetle?

- Hai!

Cicada!

All teachings of Buddhism,

introduced in the 6th century,

developed in conjunction with

the existing, ancient religion Shinto.

Shinto is based on nature's inherent

harmony and animism,

the belief that everything in nature -

trees, mountains, rivers, animals,

all have spirits.

Natural phenomenon,

like waterfalls and lightning storms,

were venerated as manifestations

of these powerful spirits.

The Japanese believed that man

was interrelated with the natural world

but that nature was indifferent to man.

Yet they held highly positive views of nature

and celebrated the perpetual and

infallible changing of the seasons

as proof of nature's own living existence.

Shinto encouraged harmony,

purity

and sincerity,

but did not expound defined doctrines,

so when Buddhism began to take hold,

its teachings were quickly and thoroughly

intertwined with the existing

Shinto beliefs.

The teachings of Buddhism center

around the concept of reincarnation:

The cycle of birth, death and rebirth,

which was heavily tied to the

Shinto confidence in nature's seasons,

and into Shinto's animistic beliefs,

in the possibility of being reborn

as any living creature,

including insects.

In Buddhist thought

it was considered a transgression

to destroy even a blade of grass

by trampling on it.

Everything living and growing

was embraced by

and incorporated into the deity.

Fireflies have often been seen

to gather on a willow in great swarms.

Some nights one may have

seen a willow drooping with fireflies,

so thickly did they coat the tree

that its branches were said

to be budding fire.

It was thought that all trees

have their unique spirits;

but the willow tree is the tree of the dead,

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