I just love these little guys.

Their brilliant green color is so beautiful. And the distances they leap—they jump 20-50 times their body length. Wow! If I had that ability, I could jump 120 to 280 feet. That’s pretty mind boggling.

There are many of them by Shin Mei Jinja. This little guy posing handsomely was on the stone base below the shrine.

It’s noteworthy to mention here that the earthly messenger of Sarutahiko no O Kami is the frog. So of course we have little frogs hopping all over. The word for frog in Japanese is kaeru 蛙. The word for return is kaeru 帰. Same pronunciation. Thus, the frog is both a spiritual messenger, and an invitation to return.