Hajime-Komainu – はじめ狛犬 – [Yokai|Artifact]

Description

Hajime-Komainu – はじめ狛犬 – [Yokai|Artifact]

• About: The earliest komainu in japan, which where inspired by china’s Imperial guard liondogs (Shishi or ‘fu’ dogs) where crafted by stone masons some 200-300+ years ago. (during the Early-Mid-Edo period) Although many nobles already had standardized, regal looking Koma-inu guarding their castles; these where made by and for the common folks & shrines, largely without any photographic or drawn reference. no phones, cameras or way for your average person to show the masons what in the world a ‘Koma Inu’ actually looked like, Other than a vague description or the masons memories. So, a lot of masons used what they had readily available: Rumors of what they looked like and/or their imaginations.

Results are often a square or flat-faced-dog-like creature which is shaped a bit like a frog, but naturally, there’s a large variety of faces & expressions that range from a bit scary to down right silly! – Try googling ’em sometime “はじめ狛犬“ – [you can also find a nice collection of them at komainu.net] – Regardless, they’re all very charming.

Incidentally, among enthusiasts, a common slang & nick name for this type of komainu is “Hajime-chan” said with much affection indeed.

As with most Koma-Inu: the males have their mouths open to scare away evil and the females have their mouths closed to welcome in good. (Though as usual, theres some debate weather that’s true in this case as well.) No telling how good these guys are at keeping evil spirits away or not! But considering that several shrines still proudly have them on display after all this time, they must do a decent job!!) Mine was inspired by the pair found at Tenmangu Shrine in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture. i adore their expressions, when side by side they feel like an arguing couple. –

[The pair found at Tenmangu Shrine in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture.]

Well…Anyway, People kept asking me to draw a koma inu for years now, so here you go! 😀 (Obviously I’ll do a ‘serious pair’ of Koma-inu & and probably a Shisa soon too to match, if i’m up for it i’ll do some proper Myobu Kitsune as well lol. – I was also asked to draw a lion dancer mask by our local lion dancer at nikkei fest a couple months back! So, thats why i’m down this rabbit hole now. – more comin’ up! )

See also: ShiShi, Koma inu, Shisha, Otoroshi

[art stickers by samkalensky part of my Yokai collection of stickers follow and support for many more! [PS: this ones a buy one get two special <3]