ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

I heard about Shisa from an Okinawa friend. About the commission from some ruler, telling them to carve them, but with no pictures to go off. One has the mouth open and one is kept closed. I have seen so many statues over town "Aren't these the same thing?", I wondered. They are not!

Shisa will be much more lion-like. They have their mouths open, but protect the house, money and the people inside.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shisa

Komainu are the statues around our shrines. They are much more dog like (hence the name), and the mouths mean something much different. The open mouth says "ah", and the latter" "unn", which represent an important aspect of Hindu, buddhist, and the Jain religions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komainu

Show me your Lion-dog statue pictures. They look interesting to me.
Until we meet again,
Joe