komainu

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English

komainu statue in Ehime prefecture, Japan

Etymology

From Japanese 狛犬 (komainu, “lion-dog”).

Noun

komainu (plural komainu or komainus)

  1. Carved stone statues of stylized lions that guard the entrance to some Japanese temples or shrines.
    Synonym: foo dog
    • 1909, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, page 60:
      The Buddhist priest Ryōtei declares that the komainu are lions, which came from Koma and were called dogs by Japanese because they did not know lions.
    • 2015, Stan Sakai, The Usagi Yojimbo Saga. Volume 4‎, page 577:
      The komainu can be traced to India and that culture’s stylized representations of the lion.

Anagrams

Japanese

Romanization

komainu

  1. Rōmaji transcription of こまいぬ
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