living things - 小さい物語たち
かつては幼虫の写真一枚で絶叫し、 かぼちゃからうねうねが現れた日には、 かぼちゃを捨て、部屋の隅で体育座りして震えていた。 けれど地球は、サピエンスだけのものじゃないと知った。 嫌いだった小さな命が、次第に愛しくてたまらなくなった。 AIと織りなす、ちいさな生き物たちの物語を手描きのイラストと共にお届けします。 虫が苦手な人にも「へぇ、こんな世界もあるんだ」って思ってもらえたら嬉しいです。
アサギマダラは二度飛ぶ
Last autumn, deep in the mountains of Kunigami Village, Okinawa Prefecture, a butterfly researcher named Sato marked a single Asagi madara butterfly.
Individual number “S-884.”
価格: 1900円 (2026/1/15 13:55時点) 感想(0件)
Every year Sato puts tiny stickers on nearly 1,000 butterflies and sees them off, but he had a special feeling about this one.
That’s because he had secretly scribbled on the back of the sticker, “Please forgive me if we can’t meet this year.”
Sato chuckled a little at himself for leaving a line on a butterfly that he’d write to a lover.
And then, ten days later.
An email arrived on Sato’s phone from a birdwatcher in Hong Kong.
“S-884 is in my garden! But something’s strange. There are two stickers. One is yours, and the other… it says in Japanese, ‘Sorry we couldn’t meet this year’?”
What he had written was “Please forgive me if we can’t meet.” And he had only attached one sticker.
Who, where, and how had added “sorry”?
Feeling creeped out, Sato immediately flew to Hong Kong.
When he met the local birdwatcher, Ms. Lin, she gave an awkward smile and pointed to a tree in her garden.
“It’s gone now. But it was definitely here. And… I felt like that butterfly called my name.”
“Lin.” It really came riding on the wind. “…I got a little scared and ran away.”
Sato tilted his head. A butterfly can’t speak human words. Yet it was also true that there were two stickers.
That night, Sato had a strange dream in his Hong Kong hotel.
A pale blue-winged butterfly landed in front of him and said in a tiny voice:
“Mr. Sato, sorry I’m late. I promised you last year when I was about to die, remember? That we’d definitely meet again next year.”
When he woke up, Asagi madara scales were glittering beside his pillow—even though the room was completely sealed.
The next morning, Sato hurriedly checked last year’s data.
Among the butterflies marked in October 2023, there was indeed an “S-884.”
But after flying south from Okinawa, that individual had gone missing.
…Meaning, a butterfly from last year had appeared again this year with the same number?
A butterfly’s lifespan is at most a few months. They don’t overwinter.
Yet here was a phenomenon as if the very same individual had returned after a whole year.
With trembling hands, Sato lined up this year’s photo of S-884 with last year’s.
The tears in the wings, the way the black lines ran, the positions of the white spots… everything matched perfectly.
The voice saying “Lin” that Ms. Lin heard in Hong Kong.
Last year, when Sato was talking to this butterfly in Okinawa, a female tourist nearby had said, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Sato remembered her name.
“You said your name was Lin, right? That you came from Japan.”
Ms. Lin, from Hong Kong, whom he had met last year.
She had smiled and said, “It’d be nice if we could see this butterfly again next year,” before leaving.
Sato understood everything.
Asagi madara butterflies do indeed travel 2,000 km.
But—whether it was fate’s prank or not—the butterfly remembered its “promise.”
The “See you next year” exchanged just before death was not kept by its children or grandchildren,
but by its “next self,” who came to properly fulfill it.
The “sorry” on the sticker was the butterfly’s own apology for being late.
Sato returned to the garden in Hong Kong and looked up at the sky.
The butterfly was no longer there. Yet the wind seemed to shimmer just a little in pale asagi blue.
“I’ll be waiting properly waiting next year.”
Sato murmured quietly.
Then, somewhere far away,
it felt as though someone laughed in the voice of a butterfly.
アサギマダラ（Asagia madara）
基本情報
見た目の特徴
- 翅の色：表側は**薄い青緑色（浅葱色）**に黒い筋と白い斑点が入った、とても美しい半透明っぽい翅。
- 裏側：淡い黄褐色で、黒い筋と白斑が表より目立つ。
- 大きさ：前翅長（翅を開いた時の片側）は約45〜60mmくらい（開張で9〜12cm程度）。
- 毒々しい美しさ：マダラチョウの仲間らしく、毒があることを示す「警告色」を持っています。
生態の最大の特徴：超長距離渡りをするチョウ！
日本にいるチョウの中で、最も長距離を移動することで有名です。
- 春〜夏に本州などで発生した個体が、秋に数百〜2000km以上南下して、沖縄、台湾、香港まで渡っていきます。
- なんと片道1000〜2500kmを無補給で飛び続ける記録あり（標識調査より）。
- 標高1000m級の山を越え、海も越える驚異的な飛行能力！
幼虫の食草（毒の元）
- ガガイモ科の植物（主にイケマ、キジョラン、ハゴロモガガイモなど）を食べます。
- これらの植物に含まれる有毒なアルカロイドを体内に取り込み、自身が鳥などに食べられても苦くて吐き出される＝天敵から身を守っています。
その他の面白いポイント
- 成虫は花の蜜を吸うが、長生き（数ヶ月生きる個体も）。
- 渡りの途中で「集合」することがあり、沖縄のやんばるなどで数百頭が樹に止まっている光景が見られます。
- 標識再捕獲調査で「○○さん標識・北海道→沖縄」みたいな感動的な記録が毎年出てきます。
価格: 5980円 (2026/1/15 13:56時点) 感想(0件)
価格: 4980円～ (2026/1/15 13:56時点) 感想(1件)
価格: 1000円 (2026/1/15 13:56時点) 感想(0件)