著者

板垣 俊一

出版者

日本文学協会

雑誌

日本文学 (ISSN:03869903)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.31, no.4, pp.50-61, 1982-04-10 (Released:2017-08-01)

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In one of its aspects the cherry is a symbol of nationalism, a symbol developed by the claim of Edo herbal studies that its only natural home is Japan. But the cherry has another symbolic aspect nurtured by folklore. This is the cherry as a tree that attracts spirits, that has flowers associated with fertility. From the folkloric point of view, the cherry is a symbol of fertility, death, and rebirth. The classical scholar Motoori Norinaga has long been considered a fountainhead of nationalistic thought. By reassessing his relation to the cherry (which he regarded as his personal symbol) from the folkloric point of view, and by focussing on the aspect of rebirth, the sources of his narcissism become clear. Moreover, it becomes evident that his literary views are fundamentally linoked to his concept of vitality.