Chasing the dragons

The red dragonfly -
In some way or another
He likes the evening too.

haiku by Issa

 

If you have few hours in the Danube Delta, what can be better than to chase after huge dragonflies?

  

Stillness of a pond.
Dragonfly leaves lily pad.
To become the Dragon

haiku by Marc Andersen

In Japan dragonflies symbolize "martial success," due to similarity in the sound of the word "dragonfly" and "victory" in Japanese.^{[citation needed]} As a seasonal symbol, the dragonfly is associated with late summer and early autumn.^[10]

More generally, in Japan dragonflies are symbols of courage, strength, and happiness, and they often appear in art and literature, especially haiku. In ancient mythology, Japan was known as Akitsushima, which means "Land of the Dragonflies".^{[citation needed]} The love for dragonflies is reflected by the fact that there are traditional names for almost all of the 200 species of dragonflies found in and around Japan.^[11] Japanese children catch large dragonflies as a game, using a hair with a small pebble tied to each end, which they throw into the air. The dragonfly mistakes the pebbles for prey, gets tangled in the hair, and is dragged to the ground by the weight.^[12] 

^{(Source: Wikipedia)
photos by Adrian Iacomi}