Hagi Flowers as the Most Common Plant Name in Ancient Japanese Poetry

The aim of the study is to analyze the poetic image of hagi flowers in ancient Japanese poetry. The article, based on the first Japanese poetry anthology “Man’yōshū”, reveals the symbolic variability of the hagi flower image and defines its place and role in ancient Japanese poetry. Research results: the analysis showed that this image in ancient poetry not only served as a symbol of autumn and a signal of the onset of the harvest season, but was also used as a metaphor for a young girl, a lover, and a wife. Images of a deer, dew, autumn wind, geese, etc. could also be used as words complementing the poetic image of hagi. In addition, the word “hagi” could be part of such expressions as, for example, “shirahagi” and “hagi-no momichi”, meaning autumn and autumn foliage.