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A pair of komainu, the "a" on the right, the "um" on the left. Komainu (狛犬), often called lion-dogs in English, are statue pairs of lion-like creatures, which traditionally guard the entrance or gate of the shrine, or placed in front of or within the honden (inner sanctum) of Japanese Shinto shrines.
Shisa (Japanese: シーサー, Hepburn: shīsā, Okinawan: シーサー, romanized: shiisaa) is a traditional Ryukyuan cultural artifact and decoration derived from Chinese guardian lions, often seen in similar pairs, resembling a cross between a lion and a dog, from Okinawan mythology. Shisa are wards, believed to protect from some evils.
Chinese mythology; Chinese dragon; Chinthe similar lion statues in Burma, Laos and Cambodia; Culture of China; Door god; Foo dog, dog breeds originating in China that resemble "Chinese guardian lions" and hence are also called Lion Dogs. Komainu to compare its use in Japanese culture; Haetae to compare with similar lion-like statues in Korea
Some anthropologists of the 19th and 20th centuries believed that the korpokkur were in fact a "race that predated the Ainu".Arnold Henry Savage Landor proposed a theory about the indigenous people of Hokkaido, which suggested that the Ainu, migrating from the north, overtook and displaced an earlier population known as the Koro-pok-kuru.
A representative sampling of Japanese folklore would definitely include the quintessential Momotarō (Peach Boy), and perhaps other folktales listed among the so-called "five great fairy tales" (五大昔話, Go-dai Mukashi banashi): [3] the battle between The Crab and the Monkey, Shita-kiri Suzume (Tongue-cut sparrow), Hanasaka Jiisan (Flower-blooming old man), and Kachi-kachi Yama.
Yatagarasu (八咫烏) is a mythical crow [1] and guiding god in Shinto mythology. He is generally known for his three-legged figure, and his picture has been handed down since ancient times. [ 1 ] The word means "eight-span crow" [ 2 ] and the appearance of the great bird is construed as evidence of the will of Heaven or divine intervention in ...
The word sphinx comes from the Greek Σφίγξ, associated by folk etymology with the verb σφίγγειν (sphíngēn), meaning "to squeeze", "to tighten up". [5] [6] [7] This name may be derived from the fact that lions kill their prey by strangulation, biting the throat of prey and holding them down until they die.
Steve Berman's short story, "A Troll on a Mountain with a Girl" [14] features Yamauba. Lafcadio Hearn, writing primarily for a Western audience, tells a tale like this: Then [they] saw the Yama-Uba,—the "Mountain Nurse." Legend says she catches little children and nurses them for awhile, and then devours them.