How to Read “A cicada’s life is seven days”
semi wa nanoka no jumyō
Meaning of “A cicada’s life is seven days”
This proverb teaches the importance of living fully even when life is short. Just as a cicada sings with all its strength during its brief seven-day life, there is value in living your time to the fullest, even when that time is limited.
It shows that what matters is not how long you live, but how fully you live. People use this saying to encourage someone working hard within limited time, or to convey the significance of giving your all even in a short period.
Today, it reminds us not to complain about “not having enough time” in our busy lives. Instead, we should cherish each present moment.
This proverb expresses a deep philosophy of life. Regardless of how long or short life is, what truly matters is living without regret during the time you’re given.
Origin and Etymology
No clear written records explain the origin of this proverb. It likely arose from ancient observations of cicadas combined with a misunderstanding of their life cycle.
Real cicadas spend several to over ten years underground as larvae. After emerging as adults, they live only one week to one month. But people in the past didn’t know about the long larval period underground.
They only saw the visible adult stage and thought that was the cicada’s entire life. This led to the widespread belief that “cicadas only live seven days.”
The number “seven days” may symbolize “a short period” rather than an actual count. In Japan, the number seven has traditionally represented completion or a full cycle.
Interestingly, this misunderstanding created a profound lesson. The image of cicadas singing with all their might during summer became a powerful symbol.
They represented living each moment intensely because life is short. The essence of this proverb isn’t scientific accuracy. It’s the brilliance of life that people felt when watching cicadas.
Interesting Facts
Cicadas actually spend 3 to 17 years underground as larvae before becoming adults. American periodical cicadas are famous for emerging in massive numbers exactly every 13 or 17 years.
After this long underground life, they live above ground for just a few weeks to produce the next generation. People in the past only knew about the short period above ground, but a cicada’s full life is actually quite long.
Only male cicadas sing. Their loud calls are courtship behavior to attract females. That powerful sound is a desperate call to leave offspring within limited time.
Different species have different songs. Over 30 species of cicadas have been identified in Japan alone.
Usage Examples
- He received a terminal diagnosis, but like “a cicada’s life is seven days,” he chose to spend his remaining time smiling with his family
- My study abroad is only three months, but with the spirit of “a cicada’s life is seven days,” I want to learn with full effort without wasting a single day
Universal Wisdom
Behind this proverb lies a fundamental question that humans have always faced. That question is “How should we live our limited lives?” This is a problem no one can avoid.
Everyone knows their life won’t last forever. Yet in daily life, we forget this fact and let time pass aimlessly.
We assume tomorrow and the day after will be just like today. We postpone what truly matters. This human tendency hasn’t changed from ancient times to today.
The cicada’s image gives us a powerful awakening. Within just seven days of limited time, the cicada sings with its entire being.
This image speaks more eloquently than words about the preciousness of living “in this moment.”
Our ancestors may have projected their ideals onto the cicada’s way of life. The truth that how you live matters more than how long you live.
This wisdom resonates universally across time and culture for all humans. The paradox that awareness of death actually makes life shine brighter.
This proverb expresses such deep human understanding in just one phrase.
When AI Hears This
Why do humans hold the image of “seven days” when cicadas actually live 3 to 17 years depending on species? This is an illusion created by a cognitive trap called observability bias.
Human memory and perception are strongly pulled toward periods we can directly observe. For cicadas, the years spent underground are completely invisible, but the 1-2 weeks singing above ground are intensely noticeable.
Only this visible period gets imprinted in memory and becomes recognized as “the cicada’s entire life.”
In other words, of a creature’s entire life history, only the part visible to observers gets overvalued. The invisible parts are treated as if they don’t exist. We can call this “visibility asymmetry.”
This phenomenon happens frequently in human society too. Consider the entrepreneur who seems to succeed overnight, but had 10 years of struggle beforehand.
Or the author whose book suddenly hits, after hundreds of rejection letters. We see only others’ “above-ground period” and judge their entire story from that.
What’s fascinating is that for the cicada itself, the underground period is most of its life. The above-ground reproductive activity is just the final chapter.
Few examples show such divergence between the observer’s timeline and the participant’s timeline.
This proverb inadvertently reveals the limits of our cognition. We mistake what we “see” for “everything.”
Lessons for Today
Modern society tends to pursue “longer and more.” We aim for longevity and try to accumulate more experiences. That’s wonderful in itself, but this proverb offers a different perspective.
What matters is not the quantity of time, but its quality. How you spend today. The accumulation of those choices determines how fulfilling your life is.
Specifically, try being conscious each morning that “today will never come again.” Then your commute, casual conversations with colleagues, even each bite of dinner will look different.
Like a cicada singing with full strength for seven days, you too can live today with full strength.
This doesn’t mean straining yourself to work hard. Rather, it means having the courage to notice what truly matters and prioritize it.
Words of gratitude you’ve postponed, new challenges you wanted to try, time with family.
Being aware of life’s finite nature isn’t sad. It’s the power that makes the present shine.
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