YEAR OF THE DOG IN JAPAN: CULTOROLOGICAL ASPECT

The aim of the article is to identify and describe ethno cultural features of the semantic of the dog (the eleventh zodiac animal) in Japanese lingvoculture. The relevance of the study is determined by the increasing scientific interest to the symbolic language and by the role of the zodiac in everyday life of the Japanese, including political discourse. The author points out that zodiac calendar serves as one of the means to express different ideas about the world and methodizes various information: temporal, spatial, astronomical. Therefore, every zodiac animal, including the dog, becomes a symbol, a dominant element of Japanese values and culture.The research methodology is based on the typological approach, which allows to determine characteristic features of the culture, methods of cognitive interpretation and historical and cultural description. The dog symbolism is considered in the diachronic aspect by examining of cultural artifacts such as mythical lion-like guardian figures komainu – Korean dogs, stone pillars and Buddhist statuary dedicated to animals, including dogs.Special attention is paid to the role of the fifth shogun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1646–1709), who issued a series of Edicts on Compassion for Living Things which protected dogs from abuse. The study reveals semantic component of the dog’s concept in folklore, mythology and everyday life of the Japanese.The results of the research show that the images of zodiac animals correlate with the zoological code of culture language and have their own cultural and national specifics. In the world view of the Japanese, the symbolism of the dog has not only a mythological, but also an everyday component. The ambivalence of the analyzed sign of the zodiac in mythology is related to the images of the «god dog» inugami and the «escorting dog» okuriinu. In everyday life a dog is regarded as a symbol of extreme loyalty, protection and unconditional love