While shopping the strip in Gatlinburg, TN, my boyfriend and I visited the China Bazaar store. It was mostly filled with martial art swords and knives, but it also had some Asian style figurines. I spotted the bright red foo dogs nestled in a corner of a shelf. I have been looking for a pair of these statues to join me at my tea table, but I couldn’t find any for the right price and of the right size… until now.
Foo dogs – also called fu dogs, fu lions, lions of Buddha, stone lions, or Chinese guardian lions - are the creatures that sit outside of Chinese palaces, temples, and even homes to act like guardians. The dogs always come in a pair; the male is holding a ball under his paw and the female has a cub on her paw.
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2 comments:
Beautiful! A pair of guardian Lion Dogs, or Komainu to the Japanese, are always welcome guests at a tea table. Don't forget to serve them a cup too!
Another fun fact, one lion is always sculpted with an open mouth, the other closed, to represent the sounds of A~ and Um~. Or Om, the sounds that people believe the universe began with and will end with.
those are great! love 'em!
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