Daily HDR Photo — Angry Komainu
Today’s photo is a shrine komainu (Korean Dog). He looks a bit angry, eh?
About
Komainu are found in front of most shrines, similar to the kitsune I talked about yesterday. They guard against evil and prevent it from coming to the shrine.
This komainu has his mouth open and the other one, not photoed, has his mouth closed. This represents the beginning and the end and comes from Hinduism where the universe is thought to begin and end with a single sound: Ohm. The Komainu with his mouth open is uttering “Oh” and the one with his mouth closed is finishing the sound “mm”.
So which stone guardian is uglier, this guy or the kitsune I posted yesterday?
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