I enjoy spending time at the shrines of Japan. The smaller ones are usually quiet and peaceful. They might be located in busy areas, between buildings or next to busy roads, but they are crammed full of nature which often does a good job of absorbing much of the outside noise, leaving a sanctuary of sorts.

I wrote this last year while visiting one of my favorite shrines.

---

komainu, old friend
let us watch the red leaves fall
autumn at the shrine

---

Komainu (pronounced koh-my-new) is a kind of lion-dog that protects against evil. The word itself means Korean Dog. Presumably when they came over by way of Korea with Buddhism, the Japanese thought they looked like dogs and they came from Korea, so easy name.^† In China they are lions, hence the English translation lion-dog. ^‡ The lion is often associated with the teachings of the Buddha. There are always two of them, one with mouth open (Ah), and one with mouth closed (Um); together they represent the sacred syllable Om (ॐ).

But—I hear you cry—why are Buddhist lion-dog guardian statues in a Shinto Shrine if they are, y'know, Buddhist? Now there's a question! One that will have to wait for next time, Grasshopper.

And then there's me, the strange foreigner who likes to talk to statues. Hmm.

---

Footnotes

†: Technically "Goguryeo dogs", Goguryeo being one of the three Korean kindgoms that existed at the time.
‡: In English we sometimes mistakingly call the Chinese version fu dogs. I'm told this is due to a screwed up translation long ago. In China they are shi, which also came to Japan as shishi, an alternative way to refer to them (but komainu is more common).

❦

	David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time. More?