A Study on the Transmission and Evolution of the Duanwu Festival Calamus Custom in Japan from the Perspective of Peirce's Semiotics

Abstract

Acorus calamus is an important material symbol carrying the cultural connotation of the Dragon Boat Festival to ward off evil spirits and avoid epidemic diseases. Based on Pierce's symbolic ternary theory, this study explores the path of cross-cultural communication and meaning reconstruction of the Dragon Boat Festival Acorus custom in Japan. The study found that on the basis of the common monsoon climate and agricultural civilization between China and Japan, the primary common interpretation term of Acorus calamus' disaster elimination and blessing 'was constructed. In the long historical evolution, this explanation item has gone through the evolution from the "spirit grass to ward off evil spirits" in the court imitation period, to the symbol of "martial spirit" in the Wu family society based on the homophonic Association transformation, and then to the "surge of meaning" in modern society as the carrier of "seasonal aesthetics" and "cultural inheritance". The localization process of Acorus calamus custom reveals the dynamic generation law of symbolic meaning in the cross-cultural context, and provides beneficial enlightenment for the international dissemination of Chinese traditional culture.