One day this boy caught a dragonfly and put it on a leash with a silk thread from his kimono.
Then the cranky yamabushi noticed this young lad having so much fun.
"Hey, dirty boy! Let that sentient being go free or you will be sorry!" he scolded.
Instead of respecting his elders, the young boy played with his dragonfly until it died from lack of food.
"See, dirty boy" hissed the yamabushi,"what happens to sentient life that man captures?"
Later, that young boy became the leader of his own clan. He chose the symbol of the dragonfly as his mon in honor of the yamabushi.
When asked why he wrote a haiku that went like this:
Dragonfly when free lives briefly.
When caught, it dies soon.
Ah the transient nature of life!
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