[Here I may mention, by the way, that there is a little Japanese song about the matsu no koe, in which the onomatope "zazanza" very well represents the deep humming of the wind in the pine-needles:—
Zazanza!
Hama-matsu no oto wa,—
Zazanza,
Zazanza!
Zazanza!
The sound of the pines of the shore,—
Zazanza!
Zazanza!]
There are poets, however, who declare that the feeling produced by the noise of semi depends altogether upon the nervous condition of the listener:—
Mori no semi
Suzushiki koe ya,
Atsuki koe.—Otsushū.
Sometimes sultry the sound; sometimes, again, refreshing:
The chant of the forest-semi accords with the hearer's mood.
Suzushisa mo
Atsusa mo semi no
Tokoro kana!—Fuhaku.
Sometimes we think it cool,—the resting-place of the semi;—sometimes we think it hot (it is all a matter of fancy).
註
