Season word · akatonbo · September · autumn

Red dragonflies 赤とんぼ

The red dragonfly is autumn's first messenger. The small dragonflies that spend the hot months in the mountains come down to the villages in September, and their bodies turn from brown to red as the air cools. Every Japanese child knows the song "Akatonbo"; the sight of them over rice fields at dusk means the heat is over.

Where to meet it

Over rice paddies at harvest time and along riverbanks, September to October, anywhere outside the big cities.