DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



sun-worship. The ancient Egyptian sacred year began with 

 the sun in the sign of Leo, constituted by two lions and a 

 whelp. It may be recalled, as mentioned earlier, that " the 

 young lion and an old lion that couched " were the twin-lion 

 blazon of Judah. It is interesting to note that the Chinese 

 lions were frequently represented as holding in their jaws a 

 broad ribbon, often pictured as a piece of string or rope. 



In the Egyptian ritual the stars or planets are described as 

 hauling the sun * along with ropes, and the balance of the 

 equinox was ruled by the two lion-gods who pulled at the 

 ropes of the scales .f Again, in Southern Pacific mythology 

 especially that of the Maori, which is startlingly similar in 

 many respects to the Egyptian the sun hauls the full moon 

 up over the horizon by means of ropes. It is just possible 

 that such ropes have some mythological connexion in an 

 early conception common to these widely separated races. 

 The existence of the old sun myth is further recalled by the 

 frequent picturing of the stars on the head of the Lamaist 

 lions. These are frequently found in potteries of the Ming 

 period, and also in cloisonne incense-burners of the time of 

 Ch'ien Lung. The Chinese have no constellation Leo. 

 Similar stars are, in Scythic J art, found on the ibex and the 

 horse and, in Assyria, upon lions. They much resemble the 

 stars found upon Tibetan luck-flags, possibly pointing to the 

 use of the objects as omens and charms. The practice of 

 using miniature lions as charms is universal in China to this 

 day. 



* Sun-dog. This name is not in use in China. A pair of lions, each with a ball 

 beneath one of the fore-paws, is placed before many temples of the Shinto religion 

 in Japan. The Shinto priests were originally worshippers of the sun. Their religion, 

 like the sun-worship of the Egyptians, was much older than Buddhism, but in later 

 periods the two neighbouring beliefs have mutually borrowed many attributes. It 

 is possible that the Shinto association of lions with sun-worship may have led to the 

 use of the term " sun-dog," current in Japan. 



f " Book of the Beginnings," G. Massey. \ " Scythians and Greeks," Minns. 



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