Chinese official recognition of sundry butterflies as the spirits of an
Emperor and of his attendants...



Most of the Japanese literature about butterflies, excepting some poetry,
appears to be of Chinese origin; and even that old national aesthetic
feeling on the subject, which found such delightful expression in Japanese
art and song and custom, may have been first developed under Chinese
teaching. Chinese precedent doubtless explains why Japanese poets and
painters chose so often for their geimyo, or professional appellations,
such names as Chomu ("Butterfly-Dream)," Icho ("Solitary Butterfly)," etc.
And even to this day such geimyo as Chohana ("Butterfly-Blossom"), Chokichi
("Butterfly-Luck"), or Chonosuke ("Butterfly-Help"), are affected by
dancing-girls. Besides artistic names having reference to butterflies,
there are still in use real personal names (yobina) of this kind,-- such as
Kocho, or Cho, meaning "Butterfly." They are borne by women only, as a
rule,-- though there are some strange exceptions... And here I may mention
that, in the province of Mutsu, there still exists the curious old custom
of calling the youngest daughter in a family Tekona,-- which quaint word,
obsolete elsewhere, signifies in Mutsu dialect a butterfly. In classic time
this word signified also a beautiful woman...



It is possible also that some weird Japanese beliefs about butterflies are
of Chinese derivation; but these beliefs might be older than China herself.
The most interesting one, I think, is that the soul of a living person may
wander about in the form of a butterfly. Some pretty fancies have been
evolved out of this belief,-- such as the notion that if a butterfly enters