Meaning of komainu | Babel Free

Definitions

Carved stone statues of stylized lions that guard the entrance to some Japanese temples or shrines.

Examples

“The Buddhist priest Ryōtei declares that the komainu are lions, which came from Koma and were called dogs by Japanese because they did not know lions.”

“The komainu can be traced to India and that culture’s stylized representations of the lion.”

CEFR level