Frogs (蛙)

The frogs arrive with the new rice.  In fact, I think they may be some kind of amphibious hitchhikers.  Farmers get their flats of rice seedlings in mid-May and by the end of the month these are planted and growing in 10 centimeters of water.  The frogs, by some strange coincidence, begin singing at exactly the same time.

Where do they come from?

These frogs which inhabit the rice paddies are known as Japanese tree frogs (Dryophytes japonicus), which seems a bit of a misnomer.  The German-born British zoologist Albert Günther is responsible for their scientific name.  Who knows where the common name came from.  

I never see these frogs, not in the rice paddies, not in the trees, not sunbathing on the warm asphalt.  They are small (just over 3 centimeters) and mostly a dull beige color, which means they don't stand out.  But there are plenty of smaller creatures with better camouflage that I see.  Moths, for instance.  

In six years I have seen just one living frog.  (I have seen a few flattened in the road.)  This little guy climbed not a tree but a wall and made himself a home in my terrace garden three floors up.  He didn't do much, just sat there under my small pine tree like a Buddhist monk practicing zazen.  He stayed for a couple of months and in autumn disappeared.

While this breed of frog may keep a low profile during the day, they definitely make their presence known after hours.  Beginning around dusk they kick up quite a racket and don't really let up until dawn.  There must be hundreds of them, a sort of frog convention, everyone talking at once.

But where do they come from?

An early zoological discovery for many children is the tadpole - little fish that grow into frogs.  There are dozens of mini-canals that criss-cross Katsura, perhaps remnants of a more rural life here.  These may or may not connect to Katsura River; I've never been able to determine this.  Do the tadpoles come to the rice paddies by way of these crude aqueducts?

The frog convention is usually over by mid-July.  The rice paddies go quiet, peace returns to the night.

Where do they go?