The mere mention of summer may conjure up a sense of freedom, playfulness, exploration, possibility, or simply long, restful naps. It was on a lazy afternoon in July that Lewis Carroll took ten-year-old Alice Liddell and her sisters boating and entertained the girls with a story that he would later write down as Alice’s Adventures Under Ground–the manuscript version of the classic that ushered in the golden age of children’s literature in the late nineteenth century. On an unassuming morning during summer break, a thick envelope bearing the seal of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry arrives at the doorstep of 4 Privet Drive, and Harry’s life is never the same again. On a sweltering day on Flower-Fruit Mountain, a reckless monkey answers to a dare, jumps through a roaring waterfall, and discovers a perfect refuge for his fellow monkeys. For his bravery, he is made king, marking the start of a saga about a mischievous monkey who goes on to disturb the universe. As summer slips by, this post highlights a couple of collection materials that capture its joyful lightness.
Cicada-Catching Game in Japan
Kodomotachi no tanoshii uta (or “Fun Songs for Children”) is a collection of Japanese children’s songs in four volumes compiled by the Music Division of the Tokyo Municipal Childcare Study Group, a nonprofit organization established in June 1946 in response to a shortage of children’s materials and a perceived lack of understanding in childcare methods during “the chaotic period of the immediate postwar years” (“Tōkyō-to” 2026). (The organization was renamed “Tokyo Municipal Preschool Teachers’ Workshop in Childcare” in 1972, and is celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2026.) Published in 1948, during the early years of the Allied occupation of Japan (1946-52), each volume bears a purple stamp on the front cover, touting its recommendation by Japan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Kodomotachi no tanoshii uta 子供たちの楽しい歌. Tōkyō-to Hoiku Kenkyūkai Ongaku-bukai hen. Tōkyō: Hakubisha, 1948. (Cotsen NR Japanese)
The set is organized around themes loosely related to the four seasons. Songs in the Summer issue are about nature and children’s leisure activities, a far cry from the patriotic, militarist themes that imbued Japanese children’s materials prior to 1945. Demilitarized and infused with an affinity for nature, these children’s songs recast a childhood once enlisted in the nation’s wartime service as a romantic one. One of the songs, “Cicada-Catching Game,” relies largely on onomatopoeic imitations of cicada chirps and captures the joy of hunting for cicadas–a children’s pastime in rural areas of some Asian countries. Unlike in North America, where the best-known periodical cicadas emerge every thirteen or seventeen years, in East Asia the tireless, booming buzz of cicadas reliably provides the background noise of the hottest summer afternoons with no gap years!
“Cicada-Catching Game,” lyrics by 小泉治; composed by小林つやえ. In Kodomotachi no tanoshii uta, Summer Issue, page 24. (Cotsen NR Japanese)
The title of the song is accompanied by the illustration of an insect net and a cage.
Kodomotachi no tanoshii uta, Summer Issue, page 23. (Cotsen NR Japanese)
On an adjacent page, where the lyrics of “Cicada-Catching Game” are printed, a boy and a girl are portrayed dashing through a field to beat an impending summer shower (matching the lyrics of another song).
The cage suggests that the captured cicadas would be kept as pets. However, they might also have been put to a practical use. Long before entomophagy–the consumption of insects as food–was promoted as an environmentally conscious choice for the culinarily adventurous in the twenty-first century, people in countries such as Japan and China developed simple recipes that turned protein-rich, freely available cicadas into satisfying, savory dishes. In 2021, when the genus Magicicada swarmed eastern North America after sixteen years of underground life, an award-winning Japanese American chef made news by serving cicada salad at his restaurant in New Haven, Connecticut (Krishna 2021). (According to a confidential but trustworthy source of mine, the periodical Magicicada in North America and the annual species from China have different textures, but both would easily beat the most addictive potato chips you can find in the supermarkets, after you brave the first bite, that is.)
Poling a Boat in a Lotus Pond in China
Jian ming guo wen jiao ke shu. Di 2 ce 簡明國文教科書. 第二冊 = Chinese Primary School Simplified National Readers. Volume 2. Compiled by Dai Kedun, Zhuang Yu, Jiang Weiqiao, Sheng Yi. Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1912. (Cotsen 96623)
Chinese Primary School Simplified National Readers, Volume 2, was published in 1912, the founding year of the Republic of China, which overthrew the last imperial dynasty in Chinese history. Intended for first-grade pupils in the second semester (lasting from July to December), the reader follows the tradition of classical primers and is composed of rhyming verses. However, considerable effort was devoted to improving the pedagogical effectiveness of the language lessons and tailoring them to the cognitive level and interests of young learners. Its introductory section explains the textbook’s design: Each lesson is written in short lines no longer than five characters each; with few exceptions, characters that are chosen to be included contain no more than 20 strokes each; obscure characters are excluded; each lesson teaches only five to eight new characters; the total number of characters is limited to 325–meaning that an entire semester’s worth of instruction amounts to less than a quarter of the length of a single traditional verse primer such as the “Three Character Classic,” first compiled in the thirteenth century; the 33-leaf textbook contains 64 illustrations, including one in color, that accompany text printed in large fonts with generous spacing.
In particular, the introduction emphasizes that, like Volume 1, this volume continues to exclude Chinese history and foreign affairs. Chinese history, by contrast, is a staple of the “Three Character Classic,” which centers on dead role models and the legacies of rulers and Confucian sages. In contrast, this reader is grounded in the (idealized) lives of children, even if it presents a skewed view of a childhood afforded only to privileged families, in which children were well fed, clothed, and entertained, and free from the obligations of child labor that contributed to the family economy. Most of the lessons teach vocabulary related to school life, leisure activities, and common objects. Instructions on children’s conduct, once an important part of traditional primers, remain minimal and light-handed in this modernized textbook. Lessons 2 and 17 convey expectations that children respect their teachers and receive house guests courteously, but they do so through matter-of-fact descriptions of proper behavior rather than overt instructions. Siblings, friends, and pupils are shown taking a cooling walk on a summer night, hiking on a holiday, spending time in an elegant garden, playing games and sports, or singing and playing musical instruments. Lesson 14 portrays a boys’ marching game, a subtle reminder of children’s future responsibility for defending the nation against colonial and foreign threats, which would intensify during much of the first half of the twentieth century.
The only colored illustration in Chinese Primary School Simplified National Readers, unnumbered leaf (Cotsen 96623)
The color illustration, facing the text of Lesson 3, depicts two children in a boat on a peaceful lake adorned with emerald lotus leaves, pink lotus flowers, and porous limestone rocks. Such strangely shaped stones were prized decorations typically found in the private gardens of affluent families. One child is poling the boat, while the other is picking a flower. The only element described in the text but not visible in the picture is a gentle breeze carrying fragrant scents over the lake.
The pond is shallow; lotus flowers are blooming.
Brother and sister take a boat to gather lotus blossoms.
Lotus stems are straight; lotus leaves are round.
The little boat comes and goes, as a gentle breeze delivers sweet scents. (leaf 2, translation mine)
The picture exudes heartfelt delight in a beautiful summer day spent in peace, wonder, and contentment. Against the backdrop of China’s turbulent political history and the realities of Chinese childhood in the early twentieth century, this illustration seems at once surreal and an authentic reflection of people’s deepest hopes for what a new political order might bring. The founding of a new Republic gave the textbook writers a brief respite in which to dream about a romantic childhood for the new generation.
References
Krishna, Priya. “The Cicadas Are Here. For the Chef Bun Lai, They’re on the Menu.” The New York Times, May 24, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/dining/cicadas-bun-lai.html Accessed July 23, 2026.
Tōkyō-to Kōritsu Hoikuen Kenkyūkai 東京都公立保育園研究会. “東京都公立保育園研究会の理念.” https://www.hoiku1946.org/gaiyou-overview. Accessed Sept. 14, 2026.
Acknowledgments
Slowly but steadily, Cotsen’s unique collection of East Asian materials is becoming more discoverable thanks to the invisible work of multilingual colleagues who describe the physical characteristics and intellectual content of materials in accordance with metadata-encoding standards.
Thanks go to Nao Satake, Cotsen’s former Japanese Metadata Assistant, and Chiharu Watsky, Leader of the Japanese Section of the East Asian Languages Team, for making “Fun Songs for Children,” along with other Japanese children’s materials produced during the occupation period, searchable with enriched and enhanced metadata in Japanese scripts!