THE IMAGE OF MOUNTAINS IN ANCIENT POETRY OF JAPAN

Abstract

The article studies mountain imagery in ancient Japanese poetry, the creation of which is inextricably linked to the earliest religious ideas. Using the analysis of poems of the first Japanese poetic anthology “Man’yōshū” (‘Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves’, contains 20 volumes and more than 4,500 poems), the compilation of which dates back to the 8th century, the researchers reveal various meanings of this image, give examples of the most typical poetic epithets and distinctive expressions that are used to glorify the image of mountains. The article also explains why ancient Japanese poetry prefers descriptions of mountains in spring and autumn. The authors of the article pay special attention to the poetic image of the highest and most famous mountain in Japan – Mount Fuji, which, as is known, is the symbol of the country.