| 翻訳と辞書 |
komainu
, often called lion-dogs in English, are statue pairs of lion-like creatures either guarding the entrance or the ''inner shrine'' of many Japanese Shinto shrines or kept inside the inner shrine itself, where they are not visible to the public. The first type, born during the Edo period, is called , the second and much older type .〔Kotera, pages 1 and 2〕 They can sometimes be found also at Buddhist temples, nobility residences or even private homes.
==Symbolic meaning==
Meant to ward off evil spirits, modern ''komainu'' statues are almost identical, but one has the mouth open, the other closed. This is a very common characteristic in religious statue pairs at both temples and shrines. This pattern is however Buddhist in origin (see the article about the Niō, human-form guardians of Buddhist temples) and has a symbolic meaning. The open mouth is pronouncing the first letter of the Sanskrit alphabet, which is pronounced "a", while the closed one is uttering the last letter, which is pronounced "um", to represent the beginning and the end of all things.〔JAANUS, (A un ), accessed on July 10, 2010〕 Together they form the sound Aum, a syllable sacred in several religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
There are however exceptions to the rule in which both ''komainu'' have their mouth either open or closed.〔Shogakukan Encyclopedia, ''Komainu''〕 The two forms are called collectively ''a-un''〔Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version〕 and individually as and ''.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
■ウィキペディアで「komainu」の詳細全文を読む
スポンサード リンク
| 翻訳と辞書 : 翻訳のためのインターネットリソース |
Copyright(C) kotoba.ne.jp 1997-2016. All Rights Reserved.
|
|