TALES FROM HISTORY

How the Wild Boar Became Divine

The story behind unusual Shinto shrine guardians

Visitors to shrines in Japan are usually greeted by a pair of fierce statues, koma-inu, on either side of the entrance. Koma-inu, lion-dogs, have been guarding shrines and temples in Japan since the 6th century, when they came along with Buddhism to Japan from China as shishi, or guardian lions. Over the years they developed into the distinctively Japanese lion-dog statues we see today.