Iwa ni Hana

There is a special meaning to the word mushi [虫] in Japanese, the nuances of which are lost in its common English translation of “insect” or “bug.” I think it would be most straightforward to quote directly an excerpt from an article called Mushi ga ii [虫がいい] from am insightful book entitled Nihongo Omote to Ura [日本語 表と裏] written by Morimoto Tetsurou [森本哲郎]. Below is my translation:

The Japanese characterize such mysteries of the heart as mushi. The heart is what one desires, what one thinks and what one feels. Nevertheless, there are times when the heart does not work the way one would like it to. In other words, there is another heart within one’s heart. The Japanese call that “second soul” mushi. It is believed that, of the two, mushi is by far closer to the depth of one’s being. The reason for it is that when one loses consciousness and when one’s breathing weakens, the Japanese call that condition “the breath of mushi.” The breath of mushi means that only the mushi within one’s body is left to do the breathing. In other words, mushi is the last thing that supports one’s life. In that sense, the Japanese concept of mushi is close to Freud’s libido.

In addition to “the breath of mushi” [虫の息], Morimoto provided other examples of Japanese idioms that illustrate the Japanese concept of mushi. For example, “mushi‘s notification” [虫の知らせ] means a gut feeling for something inauspicious.”Where mushi lives is bad” [虫の居所が悪い] means you are in a bad mood. “The mushi in one’s stomach cannot be suppressed” [腹の虫が収まらない] means you are out of control with your anger. “Fusagi no muishi” [鬱ぎの虫] means a fit of blues.

Mushi clearly means more than just “insect” or “bug.”

The reason is I mentioned the above is that recently I read some additional information on this subject, so I am just posting my questions here to see if anyone can point me to more relevant sources that may lead to an answer -

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