komainu, or lion-dog, at saigawa jinja, kanazawa, japan.

ancient are asian beautiful buddhist chinese closed dog evil gods guardian guardians gyou historic historical history horn identical india inu japan japanese jinja kami kanazawa koma komainu korea lion liondog mouth off old one open pair pairs protector religion repel sacred saigawa sculpture shinto shishi shrine shrines sometimes statue stone symbol symbolic symbolism temple temples traditional usually ward