Flora and Fauna Symbolism In Japanese History

[md02geist]

I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction to find actual information regarding animal/insect/plant symbolism in Japanese history? I would love to see what popularly represented creatures/plants meant (things like dragonflies, sakura blossoms, etc) if they had a special meaning attached to them. I've done lots of searching the net but find lots of conflicting or totally different information from one site to the next, so I'm wondering if there is a book I should be looking in.

[bluboxer]

Hello Rob,

go to the articles section in the board index and go to Junishi, The zodiac animals pdf by Mr.Schiller.That will be a good start.

[md02geist]

Certainly is a good start, thank you!

[watsonmil]

Dear Rob,

Quite a good book is : Japanese Animal Art by Lea Baten, ISBN 7-07-974943-0 ... and although I do not have it, ... and long out of print ...

Decorative Motives of Oriental Art , by Katherine M. Ball ( might be available if you're near a major Public Library ).

... Ron Watson

[k morita]

Hi,

For example,

 

Dragonfly--Victory of fight.

Mantis--Symbol of bravery.

Bat----Symbol of long life.

Peony--Symbol of richness.

Cherry blossoms--Symbol in spring.

Japanese pampas grass---Symbol in autumn.

Peach---Symbol of long life.

[md02geist]

Sai Jo, thank you, I will look them up!

 

K morita, ありがとうございます

[Nobody]

Kigo includes not only Flora and Fauna. But it also has a lot of information.

 

Kigo (季語 – season word): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kigo

List of kigo : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_kigo

[k morita]

Hi Rob.

Kigo(季語) is a part of metaphor(暗喩) in Art.

However, it is important to know the season word(kigo) to understand the Japanese poem etc,(Waka,Haiku poem, --evry art.) and Japanese culture .

[ububob]

You might also hunt up Japanese Art Motives by Maude Rex Allen. That book a lot of info on symbolism. Be sure to locate the 1917 version. More current reprint is done with early OCR software and lack illustrations.

[Baka Gaijin]

Morning all

 

There's a wealth of info here (453 pages of legends, folk tales & symbolism).

 

http://www.archive.org/stream/legendinj ... 7/mode/2up

 

If you are not familiar with how the archive works, just click on the page you want to turn and the next page comes up.

 

There are more complex controls - single page, double page, thumbnail & zoom facilities on the nav bar at the bottom.

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

[Brian]

Malcolm,

From here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2549 there is a link to download the whole Joly "Legends" book in multiple formats. Great book!

 

Brian