DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



symbolize docility and the subjection of human passions 

 under the benign influence of religion appears so great a 

 contradiction as to be almost paradoxical and even grotesque. 

 It may, however, seem to the Chinese equally grotesque in 

 the Crusaders to have adopted lions of wonderful form as 

 the commonest of armorial bearings when battling to extend 

 by dint of arms their idea of the faith of the Prince of Peace. 



European heraldry and armory originated with the Cru- 

 sades. The knowledge of natural history possessed by the 

 mediaeval artists was limited. They proved themselves 

 capable of depicting shaggy figures of lions frequently of 

 astonishing tenuity of body, crowned with two heads, their 

 tails being sometimes bifurcated and of remarkable length. 

 These creations often boasted numerous other highly fanciful 

 and astonishing characteristics * illustrated by the British 

 coat-of-arms. The Chinese need not be too severely criti- 

 cized in adopting somewhat inaccurate sculptured representa- 

 tions for the chief animal retainers of Buddhism f and for 

 connecting with these certain myths which are composed of 

 too flimsy material to resist the test of modern scientific 

 inquiry. 



Use of the lion as a heraldic emblem by the Chinese 

 appears to have been only slightly developed, but that the 

 heraldic idea has existed is indicated by the facts that the use 

 of leonine images before doorways was restricted by law to 

 temples and official buildings, that the size of their bronze or 

 stone representations indicated the importance of the building 



* See Davies, " Guide to Heraldry." 



j- The inaccuracies, moreover, are partly Indian. " The conventionalized lion of 

 Indian art betrays its anterior Asiatic character, particularly in the arrangement of 

 the mane. A series of lion-like animals appear in art as early as the Asoka period. 

 Especially these conventionalized lions became still more baroque. The so-called 

 sardulas (N. India) and yalis (S. India) of the later Indian art are overloaded with 

 shaggy hair and petty curls." A. Grunwedel, " Buddhistische Studien," vol. v, 

 p. 70. 



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