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The shīsā (シーサー), the stone animals that in Okinawa guard the gates or the roofs of houses, are close relatives of the shishi and the komainu, objects whose origin, function and symbolic meaning they share. [22] Their name itself is centuries old regional variant of shishi-san (獅子さん, lit. ' Mr. Lion '). [6]
In Chinese, they are traditionally called simply shi (Chinese: 獅; pinyin: shī) meaning lion—the word shi itself is thought to be derived from the Persian word šer. [2] Lions were first presented to the Han court by emissaries from Central Asia and Persia , and were already popularly depicted as guardian figures by the sixth century AD. [ 3 ]
Shisa (Japanese: シーサー, Hepburn: shīsā, Okinawan: シーサー, romanized: shiisaa) is a traditional Ryukyuan cultural artifact and decoration derived from Chinese guardian lions, often seen in similar pairs, resembling a cross between a lion and a dog, from Okinawan mythology. Shisa are wards, believed to protect from some evils.
Chinese guardian lions, also known as a shishi; Shishi (organization), Japanese political activists of the late Edo period; Shi Shi (giant panda) (c. 1970s – 2008) Shishi (TV program) an Israeli news and current affairs program; Shishi High School, in Chengdu, Sichuan, China; Shishi Ranger, of the Dairangers from Gosei Sentai Dairanger
Shishi kagura – a form of lion dance, in which a group of dancers take on the role of the lion (shishi) and parade around the town. The lion mask and costume is seen as, in some ways, embodying the spirit of the lion, and this is a form of folk worship and ritual, as other forms of lion dances are in Japan and elsewhere.
The lion became popular in Japanese art from the 14th century onwards, under Chinese influence. The Chinese artistic form of the "dog-lion" (kara-shishi in Japanese) was almost always used, but was generally somewhat fatter, and with a shorter torso, than in China, with a short fan-like tail and a flattened face. [59]
A zookeeper at a wildlife park in Nigeria was reportedly mauled and killed by a lion after failing to secure the locks of the animal's enclosure.
[63] [64] Various forms of shishi dances are also found in noh, kabuki (where the Lion dances form a group of plays termed shakkyōmono, examples include Renjishi), [65] [66] and bunraku theatres. [62] Lion dance of Minagi shrine in Asakura, Fukuoka. The Japanese lion usually consists of a wooden, lacquered head called a shishi-gashira (lit.