Is it also komainu when it’s just the face and this big?

    • bitofarambler@crazypeople.onlineOPMEnglish
      2·
      4 days ago

      Thanks, do you know if onigawara are the rooftop guardians only? It seems like every different type of statue/mask/sculpture has a different name. I am happy to know onigawara now, since I was wondering about all the rooftop sculptures also.

      This one’s not an oni, seems more charm-like or blessing-y.

          • oce 🐆@jlai.luEnglish
            3·
            4 days ago

            The Shuri castle in Okinawa has some nice slightly goofy decorations too.

            It’s under reconstruction after a fire and should fully reopen by November.

            • bitofarambler@crazypeople.onlineOPMEnglish
              2·
              4 days ago

              Awesome, thanks.

              I was watching this old food anime from the 80s yesterdaycalled Oishinbo where they visited Okinawa and explained the googly eyes on statues and decorations that are way more common in Okinawa than mainland Japan.

              Apparently, the okinawan statues are called shisa, and the googly eyes are so the guardians look as alive as possible, according to the show, which is great btw.

              • oce 🐆@jlai.luEnglish
                2·
                4 days ago

                The shisas are the guardian lion statues on the roofs and entrance of houses. The dragon is definitely not a shisa, the smaller head may be one. Usually they have a full body.

                P.S.: thanks for the anime recommendation, I’ll check it out.

                • bitofarambler@crazypeople.onlineOPMEnglish
                  2·
                  4 days ago

                  For sure, I like the shisas, they’re part of the dog-lion cryptid culture.

                  It’s a really interesting show. The depictions of Japanese food are beautiful and extremely informational, they get into species and cooking techniques and geography, all sorts of stuff.

                  They’re so specific in the different districts and in popular culture topics of the day; it’s very interesting because this is a 40 year old show, so they just had an episode about how building an offshore airport would destroy the coral reef in Okinawa and then 30 years after the episode aired the airport was finally built after one generation of protests, but that’s 15 years ago now.

                  I hope you like it, I watched a few episodes today.