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hototogisu
Feb. 25th, 2008 01:56 am(Yeah, I know... I should get back to "Ikun". But ooo look shiny thing went that way.)
I've actually been hit by a small RK plotbunny for the first time in a long while, though it isn't going anywhere yet. However, while poking at potential background research, I dug up some fairly neat symbolism that seems as if it'd be useful, though I haven't yet figured out how it could be smoothly incorporated into a story.
The hototogisu is a small bird (known in English as the "lesser cuckoo") that's a traditional haiku symbol of early summer and of unrequited/tragic love. It's known for its mournful-sounding call, which is only heard before dawn in the mountain forests where it lives; it has never liked to nest near urban areas and won't sing in captivity. Further tradition associates its call with either a sudden death-cry or a lament for a lost mate; in the case of the latter, there are even legends that the bereaved hototogisu mourns so much that it keeps calling until blood pours from its throat and it too dies.
There's a brief clip of a hototohisu's call here (look for its scientific name, Cuculus poliocephalus); I gather that it repeats the same call over and over again as it flies. The incessant nature may be what contributes to the impression of mourning; the clips do give me a sense of "Where are you? Where have you gone? Why can't I find you? Where are you?", but they don't seem like a death-cry to me (not that I've heard one in RL, so would I really know?).
I've actually been hit by a small RK plotbunny for the first time in a long while, though it isn't going anywhere yet. However, while poking at potential background research, I dug up some fairly neat symbolism that seems as if it'd be useful, though I haven't yet figured out how it could be smoothly incorporated into a story.
The hototogisu is a small bird (known in English as the "lesser cuckoo") that's a traditional haiku symbol of early summer and of unrequited/tragic love. It's known for its mournful-sounding call, which is only heard before dawn in the mountain forests where it lives; it has never liked to nest near urban areas and won't sing in captivity. Further tradition associates its call with either a sudden death-cry or a lament for a lost mate; in the case of the latter, there are even legends that the bereaved hototogisu mourns so much that it keeps calling until blood pours from its throat and it too dies.
There's a brief clip of a hototohisu's call here (look for its scientific name, Cuculus poliocephalus); I gather that it repeats the same call over and over again as it flies. The incessant nature may be what contributes to the impression of mourning; the clips do give me a sense of "Where are you? Where have you gone? Why can't I find you? Where are you?", but they don't seem like a death-cry to me (not that I've heard one in RL, so would I really know?).