Symbolic of black in the Yakut and Japanese poetry (through the example of poems by Ivan Gogolev and Takamurа Kotaro)

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the issue of color symbolism in poetic text. The relevance of this study is in the fact that the specificity of the linguistic worldview of the people speaking this language is revealed through color epithets in a literary text. The purpose of the study is to identify the symbolism of black color in the poems of Ivan Gogolev and Takamura Kotaro, which will reveal the features of the traditional color symbols of the Yakuts and Japanese. The authors use a systemic, holistic, functional approaches in the study of a work of art, historical-literary and comparative-comparative research methods. The scientific novelty of the research is in the fact that the poetry of Ivan Gogolev and Takamura Kotaro was first considered in terms of the identification of the specific characteristics of color symbolism in works of art. As a result, the authors state that the black color in the culture of Sakha and the Japanese traditionally carries different semantic meanings, denoting practically opposite meanings: "хара" (black) – "lower", "difficult", "bad / evil"; "Kuroi" (black) – "solemn", "wise". With all the differences, it can be noted that in these cultural traditions, a subtle perception of color symbolism is preserved, which is often expressed in numerous shades and half shades. Moreover, the main lexical expression of the color epithet "black" is expressed by a single adjective in both Yakut and Japanese.