is a traditional
Ryukyuan cultural artifact
A cultural artifact, or cultural artefact (see American and British English spelling differences), is a term used in the social sciences, particularly anthropology, ethnology and sociology for anything created by humans which gives infor ...
and decoration derived from
Chinese guardian lions
Chinese guardian lions, or imperial guardian lions, are a traditional Chinese architectural ornament, but the origins lie deep in much older Indian Buddhist traditions. Typically made of stone, they are also known as stone lions or shishi () ...
, often seen in similar pairs, resembling a cross between a
lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adu ...
and a
dog, from
Okinawan mythology. Shisa are wards, believed to protect from some evils. People place pairs of shisa on their rooftops or flanking the gates to their houses, with the left shisa traditionally having a closed mouth, the right one an open mouth. The open mouth shisa traditionally wards off evil spirits, and the closed mouth shisa keeps good spirits in.
History
Like the ''
komainu'' ("lion dogs"), the shisa are a variation of the
guardian lions from
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
. From the
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...
, they started to be called "guardian dogs" in general in mainland Japan. Gender is variously assigned to the shisa. Some Okinawans believe the male has his mouth closed to keep bad out of the home, while the female has her mouth open to share goodness. Others believe the female has her mouth closed to "keep in the good", while the male has his mouth open to "scare away the bad" (Compare this to the distinction between male and female
guardian lions in Chinese culture).
Legend
When a Chinese emissary returned from a voyage to the court at
Shuri Castle
was a Ryukyuan ''gusuku'' castle in Shuri, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Between 1429 and 1879, it was the palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom, before becoming largely neglected. In 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa, it was almost completely destroyed ...
, he brought a gift for the king, a necklace decorated with a figurine of a shisa. The king found it charming and wore it underneath his clothes. At the
Naha Port bay, the village of Madanbashi was often terrorized by a
sea dragon
Sea Dragon or seadragon may refer to:
Fish
* Leafy seadragon (''Phycodurus eques'')
* ''Phyllopteryx'' genus
** Common seadragon or weedy seadragon (''Phyllopteryx taeniolatus'')
** Ruby seadragon (''Phyllopteryx dewysea'')
Military
* Operation ...
who ate the villagers and destroyed their property. One day, the king was visiting the village, and one of these attacks happened; all the people ran and hid. The local ''
noro'' had been told in a dream to instruct the king when he visited to stand on the beach and lift up his figurine towards the dragon; she sent the boy, Chiga, to tell him the message. He faced the monster with the figurine held high, and immediately a giant roar sounded all through the village, a roar so deep and powerful that it even shook the dragon. A massive boulder then fell from heaven and crushed the dragon's tail, so that he couldn't move, and eventually died. This boulder and the dragon's body became covered with plants and surrounded by trees, and can still be seen today as the "Gana-mui Woods" near Naha Ohashi bridge. The townspeople then built a large stone ''shisa'' to protect it from the dragon's spirit and other threats.
Great Stone Shisa at Tomimori
At Tomimori Village near Kochinda Town in the far southern part of Okinawa, there were often many fires. The people of the area sought out Saiouzui, a
Feng Shui master, to ask him why there were so many fires. He believed they were because of the power of the nearby Mt. Yaese, and suggested that the townspeople build a stone shisa to face the mountain. They did so, and thus have protected their village from fire ever since.
Bibliography
*Chizue, Sesoko. ''Legends of Okinawa''. First publication, in Okinawa, 1969.
Gallery
File:Shisa face.svg, Stylised image of a shisa.
File:Guardians.jpg, Varieties of shisa (excluding the dragon) at a shop.
File:名護市のシーサー.JPG, ''Shisa'' in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture
File:Shisa Okinawa.jpg, More shop shisa.
File:Okinawan shisa.JPG, Typical (right-side) shisa.
File:Okinawan shīsā.jpg, A closed-mouth (left-side) shisa.
File:Shisa.jpg, Open-mouthed shisa on a traditional tile roof in Okinawa Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi).
Naha is the capital and largest cit ...
.
File:Miyakojima-Shisa.jpg, Shisa statue from Miyako Island
is the largest and the most populous island among the Miyako Islands of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Miyako Island is administered as part of the City of Miyakojima, which includes not only Miyako Island, but also five other populated island ...
.
File:Shisa on vending machines.jpg, Shisa on vending machine
A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The fi ...
s.
File:OIST logo.png, The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology uses a stylised Shisa as its logo.
See also
*
Carranca, boat figurehead used in Brazil
*
Chinese art
Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based in or draws on Chinese ...
*
Chinese guardian lions
Chinese guardian lions, or imperial guardian lions, are a traditional Chinese architectural ornament, but the origins lie deep in much older Indian Buddhist traditions. Typically made of stone, they are also known as stone lions or shishi () ...
*
Chinese mythology in popular culture
*
Japanese sculpture
*
King Caesar, originally King Shisa, a ''kaiju'' (Japanese giant monster) inspired by the shisa
*
Komainu, lion-like statues used in Shinto shrines
*
Seasarmon
*
Tutelary
*
Qilin
The qilin (; ) is a legendary hooved chimerical creature that appears in Chinese mythology, and is said to appear with the imminent arrival or passing of a sage or illustrious ruler. Qilin are a specific type of the mythological family of ...
References
External links
{{commons category, Shisa
Image of a shisaaNetsuke: masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains many representations of Shisa
Okinawan legendary creatures
Japanese folk art
Japanese folklore
Mythological lions
Mythological dogs
Lions in art