View source for Shisa

{{Short description|Ryukyuan guardian lion statue}}
{{Distinguish|Shishi (disambiguation)|Shisha (disambiguation){{!}}Shisha|Shiso}}
{{Italic title|reason=[[:Category:Japanese words and phrases]]}}
[[Image:Tomori Stone Lion 202006 01.jpg|thumb|right|Tomori ''shisa'']]
{{nihongo|'''''Shisa'''''|シーサー|shīsā}} is a traditional [[Ryukyuans|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. People place pairs of shisa on their rooftops or flanking the gates to their houses, with the left shisa traditionally having a closed mouth, the right one an open mouth.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wonder-okinawa.jp/011/english/roots/world/rw03/rw03w02.html |title=Okinawa Shisa Travelogue |publisher=Okinawa Prefectural Government |access-date=2010-08-09}}</ref> The open mouth shisa traditionally wards off evil spirits, and the closed mouth shisa keeps good spirits in.

==History==
[[File:Coppia di Shisa.JPG|thumb|A pair of ''shisa'', one with mouth closed]]
Like the ''[[komainu]]'' ("lion dogs"), the shisa are a variation of the [[guardian lions]] from [[China]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wonder-okinawa.jp/011/english/roots/world/rw01/rw01.html |title=Okinawa Shisa Travelogue |publisher=Okinawa Prefectural Government |access-date=2010-08-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091009064358/http://www.wonder-okinawa.jp/011/english/roots/world/rw01/rw01.html |archive-date=2009-10-09 }}</ref> From the [[Edo period]], they started to be called "guardian dogs" in general in mainland Japan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wonder-okinawa.jp/011/english/roots/world/rw03/rw03.html |title=Okinawa Shisa Travelogue |publisher=Okinawa Prefectural Government |access-date=2010-08-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091008014542/http://www.wonder-okinawa.jp/011/english/roots/world/rw03/rw03.html |archive-date=2009-10-08 }}</ref> Gender is variously assigned to the shisa. Some Okinawans believe the male has his mouth closed to keep bad out of the home, while the female has her mouth open to share goodness.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.okiken.com/modules/tinyd0/index.php?id=2 |title=おきけん - シーサー |publisher=okiken.com |access-date=2010-08-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009090558/http://www.okiken.com/modules/tinyd0/index.php?id=2 |archive-date=2011-10-09 }}</ref> Others believe the female has her mouth closed to "keep in the good", while the male has his mouth open to "scare away the bad"<ref>[http://titi28.seesaa.net/article/115429815.html Titi28.seesaa.net]</ref> (Compare this to the distinction between male and female [[guardian lions]] in Chinese culture).

==Legend==
When a Chinese emissary returned from a voyage to the court at [[Shuri Castle]], he brought a gift for the king, a necklace decorated with a figurine of a shisa.  The king found it charming and wore it underneath his clothes. At the [[Naha, Okinawa|Naha]] Port bay, the village of Madanbashi was often terrorized by a [[Chinese dragon#Ruler of weather and water|sea dragon]] who ate the villagers and destroyed their property. One day, the king was visiting the village, and one of these attacks happened; all the people ran and hid. The local ''[[Ryukyuan religion#Noro/Nuuru priestesses|noro]]'' had been told in a dream to instruct the king when he visited to stand on the beach and lift up his figurine towards the dragon; she sent the boy, Chiga, to tell him the message. He faced the monster with the figurine held high, and immediately a giant roar sounded all through the village, a roar so deep and powerful that it even shook the dragon. A massive boulder then fell from heaven and crushed the dragon's tail, so that he couldn't move, and eventually died. This boulder and the dragon's body became covered with plants and surrounded by trees, and can still be seen today as the "Gana-mui Woods" near Naha Ohashi bridge. The townspeople then built a large stone ''shisa'' to protect it from the dragon's spirit and other threats.<ref>Adopted from ''Legends of Okinawa'' by Chizue Sesoko</ref>

==Great Stone Shisa at Tomimori==
At Tomimori Village near Kochinda Town in the far southern part of Okinawa, there were often many fires.  The people of the area sought out Saiouzui, a [[Feng Shui]] master, to ask him why there were so many fires.  He believed they were because of the power of the nearby Mt. Yaese, and suggested that the townspeople build a stone shisa to face the mountain.  They did so, and thus have protected their village from fire ever since.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wonder-okinawa.jp/011/english/roots/okinawa/ro03/ro03pps1.html |title=Okinawa Shisa Travelogue |publisher=Okinawa Prefectural Government}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
*Chizue, Sesoko. ''Legends of Okinawa''. First publication, in Okinawa, 1969.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:名護市のシーサー.JPG|''Shisa'' in [[Nago]], Okinawa Prefecture
File:Guardians.jpg|Varieties of shisa (excluding the dragon) at a shop
File:Shisa Okinawa.jpg|Shisa at a shop
File:Okinawan shisa.JPG|Typical (right-side) shisa
File:Okinawan shīsā.jpg|A closed-mouth (left-side) shisa
File:Shisa.jpg|Open-mouthed shisa on a traditional tile roof in [[Okinawa Prefecture]]
File:Miyakojima-Shisa.jpg|Shisa statue on [[Miyako-jima|Miyako Island]]
File:Pair of shisa decorating a building wall in Naha.jpg|Pair of shisa inside a building wall in [[Naha]]
File:Shisa on vending machines.jpg|Shisa on [[vending machine]]s
File:Saion Ufu Shisa at night.jpg|Saion Ufu Shisa in Naha
File:OIST logo.png|The [[Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology]] uses a stylised Shisa as its logo.
File:Shisa face.svg|Stylised image of a shisa
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Carranca]], boat figurehead used in Brazil
* [[Chinese art]]
* [[Chinese guardian lions]]
* [[Chinese mythology in popular culture]]
* [[Japanese sculpture]]
* [[King Caesar]], originally King Shisa, a  ''kaiju'' from the [[Godzilla (franchise)|Godzilla film series]], inspired by the shisa
* [[Komainu]], lion-like statues used in Shinto shrines
* [[Seasarmon]]
* [[Tutelary deity|Tutelary]]
* [[Qilin]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Shisa}}
*[http://www.jahitchcock.com/shisa.jpg Image of a shisaa]
*[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/90981/rec/1 Netsuke: masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art], an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains many representations of Shisa

[[Category:Okinawan legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Japanese folk art]]
[[Category:Japanese folklore]]
[[Category:Mythological lions]]
[[Category:Mythological dogs]]
[[Category:Lions in art]]
[[Category:Chinese lions]]