id: 106261 accession number: 1924.351 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1924.351 updated: 2023-05-17 11:14:46.980000 Pair of Guardian Animals: Karashishi and Komainu, 1300s. Japan, Kamakura period (1185-1333). Wood with traces of color; overall: 49.6 cm (19 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund 1924.351 title: Pair of Guardian Animals: Karashishi and Komainu title in original language: 唐獅子・狛犬像 series: series in original language: creation date: 1300s creation date earliest: 1300 creation date latest: 1399 current location: creditline: Dudley P. Allen Fund copyright: --- culture: Japan, Kamakura period (1185-1333) technique: Wood with traces of color department: Japanese Art collection: Japanese Art type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 49.6 cm (19 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Inaugural Exhibition opening date: 1916-06-06T05:00:00 Inaugural Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (June 6-September 20, 1916). title: Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture opening date: 1975-09-24T04:00:00 Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975). title: Shinto: Discovering the Divine in Japanese Art 神道－日本美術における神性の発見 opening date: 2019-04-09T04:00:00 Shinto: Discovering the Divine in Japanese Art 神道－日本美術における神性の発見. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 9-June 30, 2019). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Kuroda Takuma 黒田太久馬 [1867–?], Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?–1924 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1924– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: Placed at the entrance to shrines and temples in Japan, guardian figures ward off evil spirits. These guardians used to be painted red and white and are distinguishable by their facial expressions: the open-mouthed animal is a karashishi, or “Chinese lion,” while the close-mouthed beast, which once had a single horn protruding from its head, is called a komainu, or “Korean dog.” The mouths correspond to infinity, the syllables ah (open) and um (closed), or the alpha and omega. This pairing was widespread in ancient times in Chinese territories and likely found its way to Japan via kingdoms in Korea. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Sizer, Theodore. “A Note on the Japanese Collection.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 11, no. 9, 1924, pp. 174–175 and 187. page number: Mentioned: pp. 174-175; Reproduced: p. 187 url: www.jstor.org/stable/25136795 The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 908 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n160 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 275 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n299 Mayuyama, Junkichi. Japanese Art in the West. [Tokyo]: Mayuyama & Co, 1966. page number: Mentioned: p. 344; Reproduced: p. 49, pl. 61 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 275 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n299 Zenzo Shimizu 清水善三. "Japanese Sculptures in America and Canada," Ars Buddhica 佛教藝術, no. 126 (September 1979), part I, pp. 67-88. page number: Reproduced: fig. 26 url: Vilbar, Sinéad, and Kevin Gray Carr. Shinto: Discovery of the Divine in Japanese Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2019. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 150, no. 55 url: Vilbar, Sinead. "The Japanese Art Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1915-1951." In Great Waves & Mountains: Perspectives and Discoveries in Collecting the Arts of Japan. Natsu Oyobe, and Allysa B. Peyton, eds., 160-197. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2022. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 173, fig. 7.10 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1924.351/1924.351_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1924.351/1924.351_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1924.351/1924.351_full.tif