The Buddhist Monk And The Lion Dogs - 僧仏教徒と狛犬
The Buddhist Monk And The Lion Dogs 僧仏教徒と狛犬
By Daniel Arrhakis / 大仁得 赤竜 / 丹尼尔·红龙 (2020)
With the music : 大悲呪 [Nilakantha Dharani] (string quartet ver.) - Ikkyu-ji Temple,Kyoto,Japan - Japanese Zen Music
The Japan's mythical Lion Dogs are called Komainu 狛犬.
If you’ve ever been to a shrine in Japan, odds are you’ve seen a pair of dog-like lions flanking the entrance.
Lions appeared in Indian temple art and, as early as the third century, showed up in Chinese Buddhist art.
In those times, the lion was a symbolic protector of the dharma (the teachings of Buddha) but over time, they also became protectors of imperial gates.
By the Nara period (710-794), lion guardians had come to Japan as well but the original source of their introduction is still discussed today if was China or Korea. Early on, they were usually made of wood and only used indoors.
In the ninth century, a change occurred, and the pair came to consist of one open-mouthed lion (shishi 獅子) and one close-mouthed, horn-bearing, dog-like komainu. The name komainu itself means “Korean dog.” Given the name and its horn, it would seem that the komainu, at least, came from the Korean haechi.
By the fourteenth century the horn disappeared, and both animals of the pair came to be known as komainu. At the same time, people started making them in stone and using them outdoors.
Text (modified) based in an article of Adam Ledford.
Komainu: The History of Japan’s Mythical Lion Dogs www.tofugu.com/japan/komainu/
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Work made with stock images and images of mine. Art collage, textured layered techniques, digital painting/sketch processes and creative borders/vignette.
The Buddhist Monk And The Lion Dogs - 僧仏教徒と狛犬
The Buddhist Monk And The Lion Dogs 僧仏教徒と狛犬
By Daniel Arrhakis / 大仁得 赤竜 / 丹尼尔·红龙 (2020)
With the music : 大悲呪 [Nilakantha Dharani] (string quartet ver.) - Ikkyu-ji Temple,Kyoto,Japan - Japanese Zen Music
The Japan's mythical Lion Dogs are called Komainu 狛犬.
If you’ve ever been to a shrine in Japan, odds are you’ve seen a pair of dog-like lions flanking the entrance.
Lions appeared in Indian temple art and, as early as the third century, showed up in Chinese Buddhist art.
In those times, the lion was a symbolic protector of the dharma (the teachings of Buddha) but over time, they also became protectors of imperial gates.
By the Nara period (710-794), lion guardians had come to Japan as well but the original source of their introduction is still discussed today if was China or Korea. Early on, they were usually made of wood and only used indoors.
In the ninth century, a change occurred, and the pair came to consist of one open-mouthed lion (shishi 獅子) and one close-mouthed, horn-bearing, dog-like komainu. The name komainu itself means “Korean dog.” Given the name and its horn, it would seem that the komainu, at least, came from the Korean haechi.
By the fourteenth century the horn disappeared, and both animals of the pair came to be known as komainu. At the same time, people started making them in stone and using them outdoors.
Text (modified) based in an article of Adam Ledford.
Komainu: The History of Japan’s Mythical Lion Dogs www.tofugu.com/japan/komainu/
________________________________________________
Work made with stock images and images of mine. Art collage, textured layered techniques, digital painting/sketch processes and creative borders/vignette.