Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things

by Lafcadio Hearn

ANTS

(1) Cicadas.

[1] An interesting fact in this connection is that the Japanese word for ant, ari, is represented by an ideograph formed of the character for “insect” combined with the character signifying “moral rectitude,” “propriety” (giri). So the Chinese character actually means “The Propriety-Insect.”