Transcript:

Here's a program from our archives.If a Jewel of Dew Could Sing..ambience: Suzumushi cricketOne of the unique aspects of Japanese culture involves a respect and reverence for insects, and the sounds they make. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet. We're listening to the sounds of Suzumushi -- a Japanese cricket whose song is especially appreciated by the Japanese. Pemberton: Suzumushi or Bell insect is known to scientists as homoeogryllus japonicus. And it's a tree cricket. It's black with long white antennae and a dark body. It has a really beautiful trill that it makes with its wings. They have a strange behavior where they're rubbing their wings together to produce this tone and then they vibrate their bodies which distorts the sound in a very interesting way." Research entomologist Bob Pemberton. Pemberton: The name Bell insect refers to the call that has a bell-like quality Each singing insect has its own unique call, both in tone and the rhythm of the call and the pulsing of the sound. So people who study them scientifically can record the sounds and look at the acoustic characteristics and identify the specific species.One of the more interesting places to hear specifically the Bell insect or Suzumushi is a Buddhist temple near Kyoto in central Japan and this temple is several hundred years old and they have a special room that they keep the Bell insects in and people go there in the winter to sit and listen to them in a meditation-like setting. And I was quite puzzled how this related to Buddhism so I spoke to the monk that keeps the temple and he told me that like all of the beautiful sounds in nature, the voice of the Bell insect was the voice of Buddha. We'll close with a line from an ancient Japanese poem, written in honor of the Bell Insect. It reads - "if a jewel of dew could sing, it would tinkle with such a voice." We've been listening to a program from our archives. If you want to hear more, check out our podcast.