Japanication

Shisa is an image of the beast of the legend seen in Okinawa Prefecture etc.It is installed in the gate and the roof, etc. in the building, and it has the meaning such as causing the amulet and luck that drives away the evil spirit who causes the misfortune to the house, the person, and the village.

The source is told the lion or the dog in the ancient Orient as well as the sphinx and the image of Korean dog.

It came to receive the influence of the style of the image of Korean dog of the mainland perhaps, and to be put by the pair though the original one set up with the unit.

It is since the Meiji era when the tiled roof came to be permitted by the people that it came to be put on the roof. Till then, it was only set up in the doorway etc. of gate of the temple company and the castle and aristocrats’ burial place for the kings and queenss and villages. Recently, there is the one concrete and made of the bronze though it is basic that the material depends on the stone, earthenware, and mortar, too.