{
"data": {
"id": 106263,
"accession_number": "1924.351.2",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Guardian Animal: Karashishi (\u5510\u7345\u5b50), 1300s. Japan, Kamakura period (1185\u20131333). Wood with traces of color; overall: 49.6 cm (19 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund, 1924.351.2",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Guardian Animal: Karashishi",
"title_in_original_language": "\u5510\u7345\u5b50",
"creation_date": "1300s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1300,
"creation_date_latest": 1399,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Japan, Kamakura period (1185\u20131333)"
],
"technique": "Wood with traces of color",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Japanese Art",
"collection": "Japanese Art",
"type": "Sculpture",
"measurements": "Overall: 49.6 cm (19 1/2 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.496,
"height_inch": 19,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.5
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 317001,
"title": "Inaugural Exhibition",
"description": "Inaugural Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (June 6-September 20, 1916).",
"opening_date": "1916-06-06T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 302145,
"title": "Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture",
"description": "Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).",
"opening_date": "1975-09-24T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 309312,
"title": "Shinto: Discovering the Divine in Japanese Art \u795e\u9053\uff0d\u65e5\u672c\u7f8e\u8853\u306b\u304a\u3051\u308b\u795e\u6027\u306e\u767a\u898b",
"description": "Shinto: Discovering the Divine in Japanese Art \u795e\u9053\uff0d\u65e5\u672c\u7f8e\u8853\u306b\u304a\u3051\u308b\u795e\u6027\u306e\u767a\u898b. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 9-June 30, 2019).",
"opening_date": "2019-04-09T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 455863,
"title": "Animals in Japanese Art",
"description": "Animals in Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-December 10, 2023).",
"opening_date": "2023-06-24T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Kuroda Takuma \u9ed2\u7530\u592a\u4e45\u99ac [1867-?], Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "?-1924",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1924-",
"sortorder": 2
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [
"85.1916",
"1924.352"
],
"did_you_know": null,
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"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 \u201cChinese lion,\u201d while the close-mouthed beast, which once had a single horn protruding from its head, is called a komainu, or \u201cKorean dog.\u201d 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.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1924.351.2-koma-inu-guardian-li",
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1924.351.2-guardian-animal-kara"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Sizer, Theodore. \u201cA Note on the Japanese Collection.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 11, no. 9, 1924, pp. 174\u2013175 and 187.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 174-175; Reproduced: p. 187 (back cover)",
"url": "www.jstor.org/stable/25136795"
},
{
"citation": "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"
},
{
"citation": "Mayuyama, Junkichi. Japanese Art in the West. [Tokyo]: Mayuyama & Co, 1966.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 344; Reproduced: p. 49, pl. 61",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "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"
},
{
"citation": "Zenzo Shimizu \u6e05\u6c34\u5584\u4e09. \"Japanese Sculptures in America and Canada,\" Ars Buddhica \u4f5b\u6559\u85dd\u8853, no. 126 (September 1979), part I, pp. 67-88.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: fig. 26",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Vilbar, Sin\u00e9ad. \"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\u2013197. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2022.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 173, fig. 7.10",
"url": ""
}
],
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"creditline": "Dudley P. Allen Fund",
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"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1924-03-13T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1300,
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"date_text": "1300s",
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"alternate_titles": [
"Koma-inu: Guardian Lion-Dog"
],
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"updated_at": "2026-07-25 07:01:46.318000"
}
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