A very traditional decoration found here in Okinawa is the Shisa, a cross between a dog and a lion. There is always a pair of these found on rooftops, doorways or gates facing away from the building that they are protecting. That’s right; these are hard working dogs protecting the dwellers of the building from evil spirits to natural disasters.
There are two of them for a reason and it has to do with their sex. The one on the right usually has its mouth open because it’s growling and showing anger, this represents the male. The left one has its mouth close, calm and waiting, gentle anger; of course this represents the female.
The Shisa is cousin to two other kinds of dogs, the guardian dog and the koma-inu; both from Chinese legends. The Shisa legend is way better though, lemme share it with ya’ll according to Hiromi.
So the legend goes a guy from China comes over to Okinawa to Shuri Castle and brought a gift for the King. It was a small necklace with a figurine of a Shisa dog and like any gift; the King wore it underneath his clothes because you have to wear a gift that someone gives you for at least two weeks. Well, it just so happened that there was a sea dragon that was fucking killing people and ripping apart the ships in Naha Port. So this King decides to go kick it down on Naha Port and the sea dragon pops out and what the dragon didn’t know was that this other Okinawan had a dream and in this dream the Okinawan was told to instruct the King to simply hold up the Shisa dog to the dragon. So this guy gets the message to the King and when the King met the dragon, he was prepared! The dragon came in out and the King held up the Shisa. All the sudden, a huge roar sounded so powerful that the dragon got all shook up and startled. If that wasn’t enough, a giant rock fell out of the sky and landed on the dragon, killing him. When the dragon died, his decaying body provided rich nutrients to the soil and not soon after a forest grew from his bloody carcass. Now the forest is still there near Naha Ohashi Bridge and to make sure that dirty dragon spirit doesn’t try to get his body back and come back from the dead, they built a giant Shisa there.
Now, you may think you haven’t seen one, but I think everyone has seen a version of the Shisa. Take a look at the following appearances of a Shisa.
- In a Godzilla movie, this guy was awaken by Godzilla. King Caesar was sleeping in Okinawa and was awaken up to help ‘ol Godzilla beat his arch nemesis, Mechagodzilla. The King is a representation of the Okinawan Shisa
- Chatsuramon & Seasarmon are both Digimons which take their design & character from the Shisa.
- Another anime character, Arcanine from Pokemon, is also in direct relation to the Shisa.
Here are some pictures I took while traveling around the island of Okinawa.
Now that is two local traditions that I have covered that deal with spirits and warding them off. I’ll find some more interesting stuff to post about. I plan on doing the Okinawa thing first, but expect ping-pong pointers and plays (probably videos), Marine news; since I re-enlisted for three years, techy info and other important things that may interest me like Photography and Web Design and etc…Holla!
April H
on January 25, 2007 at 2:32 am
The female looks scarier than the male. hehe… Cool stuff.
ロバート
on July 6, 2008 at 12:37 am
The shisa with his mouth open is to ward away evil spirits And the shisa with his mouth close is to keep good spirits in. But you are right about the male and female part. My wife has a shisa with her mouth closed and i have a shisa with his mouth open. and our house is full of them. both outside and in. And your story is wrong. IT wasn’t a king but a simple man that fought the dragon of the sea. ANd 1 shisa wasn’t strong enough. So they summoned a second shisa. Which is why shisa’s come in pairs. 1 shisa kept the dragon at bay and with another one they were able to defeat it. アイ ト ヘイワ。 ワカレマセン？