Post 2

As I entered the main part of the Japanese gardens, I saw this mother and baby Fu dog statue. I understand that they wanted to represent Komainu, or lions, which is similar to the Chinese Fu dog statue pairs, but they differ slightly. Komainu are separated in their pairs by their mouth. One of the pairs has its mouth closed while the other one its mouth is opened. Komaimu represent the beginning and end of all things with their mouths representing the sounds of the first and last letter of the Sanskrit alphabet, creating the sound that is sacred in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The Chinese Fu dog is separated in their pair set by the baby or the world under the paw of each dog representing the female and male. The intent of having such statues is to ward off evil spirits.

Both forms of these statues are said to have originated from India and changed as they moved to China, Korea, and into Japan. Because of the rainy weather, the statues’ material changed from wooden statues to stone that is seen today. They are placed in front of temples and shrines most often to do their duty of warding off evil. Apparently, the most frequent variant of komainu are statues of foxes which are the guardians to the shrines that are for the kami inari. There are around thirty thousand shrines dedicated to the Inari in Japanese where these fox komainu statues stand and guard. I was very happy to see the statue and knew going into the gardens, no malice presences would be allowed to follow.