Toh Gen Kyo vol.34 - MIHO MUSEUM

The mystical beasts known as shishi arrived in Japan and came to be paired as guardian shishi and komainu that took on the role of preventing evil from entering sacred spaces such as temples and shrines. Komainu are generally found at the entrance of shrines or in the corridors of shrine buildings and are often viewed as watchdogs, though often they appear with a single horn on their head and together with the shishi. For this reason, one is known as shishi, while the other is called komainu. Often, we see the shishi, growling fiercely with its mouth open, paired with the komainu, glaring with its mouth closed, as a and un, which represent the first and last letters of the Sanskrit alphabet as well as the beginning and end of all things.


	The mystical beasts known as shishi arrived in Japan and came to be paired as guardian shishi and komainu that took on the role of preventing evil from entering sacred spaces such as temples and shrines. Komainu are generally found at the entrance of shrines or in the corridors of shrine buildings and are often viewed as watchdogs, though often they appear with a single horn on their head and together with the shishi. For this reason, one is known as shishi, while the other is called komainu. Often, we see the shishi, growling fiercely with its mouth open, paired with the komainu, glaring with its mouth closed, as a and un, which represent the first and last letters of the Sanskrit alphabet as well as the beginning and end of all things.

Komainu are mentioned in early Heian-period (794–1185) temple inventories as “Goryeo dogs”—a term used for large masks similar to those used in lion dances in bugaku (Japanese court dance and music). Koma or Goryeo referred to the Goguryeo state, one of the Three Kingdoms of ancient Korea, and other foreign lands, and the word komainu meant a mystical, foreign guardian. It may seem that these creatures should all take the same form, however, diverse expressions can be found in each period. This exhibition introduces some of the most distinctive komainu examples.