DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



In sharp opposition to Foism, which favoured simplicity, 

 the Tibetans have done their utmost to centre upon the 

 lion, which in Lamaism has become the most picturesque of 

 its minor retainers, the maximum of fable and superstition. 

 The Lamaists appear to have desired to conjure up a visible 

 symbol of the power of their faith in order to impress its 

 realism upon a people which, being isolated from the rest of 

 the world, is uneducated, credulous and highly superstitious. 



The best representations of the Tibetan Buddhist lion 

 which have come down to us are those of bronze or stone 

 which stood originally in the southern doorways of the 

 Imperial or Princes' palaces or of the Lama temple in 

 Peking. They represent a short-bodied beast, well knit and 

 of extraordinary strength, with massive legs and pads, head 

 somewhat rectangular, sometimes ornamented with stars, 

 nose short, the whole aspect being canine rather than feline. 

 The face, with broad, thick pug-nose and gaping mouth, 

 shows the influence of early mediaeval art exemplified in the 

 ogres and gargoyles of Western religion. The mane is 

 extraordinarily bushy, wig-like, in fact, and made up of curls 

 as of conch-shells, with compressed volutes both right and 

 left-handed. A straight whisker or beard split in the middle 

 hangs from the lower lip. There are fringes behind the 

 fore-arms and heels of the hind legs. The tail is short, with 

 a bushy tip. The beast is harnessed with a broad and very 

 open collar studded with brass openwork. From it hang 

 pointed tassels or perhaps a bell attached by a ring to a 

 ram-horned lion-head with flaring side-mane, at the apex of 

 the somewhat pointed chest. There emerges from behind 

 the mane a double tape-like leading-string, shortened by 

 knots and loops, resting on the back and terminating at the 

 insertion of the tail. These animals are, of course, recognized 

 by all Chinese as lions distinct from all the numerous lion- 

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