Japanese

The butterfly motif, popular since the 8th century when it was adapted from a Chinse T'ang period (618-907) design, has many associations. It is a motif of Japan's classical period, associated with spring and ephemeral beauty. The word for butterfly, kocho, also sounds like the word for "coming" associated with waiting for a lover or for tidings from a lover.

In this classical verse, the butterfly is associated with Buddhist doctrine that all things are transient:

chirinureba
nochi wa akuta ni
naru hana o
omoishirazu mo
madou cho kana

Infatuated,
the butterfly little dreams
that those fair blossoms
will decay and become dust
after they scatter to earth.

Archbishop Henjo, Kokin Wakashu, no 435. Translation by Helen Craig McCullough, Kokin Wakashu (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985) p. 104.