Kashima City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan
15th century
Height (left) 24.5cm (right) 23.6cm
Kashima Jingu Shrine
This pair of guardian dogs, together with the previous one of the same type, was part of the Kashima Shrine regent office. Both have thin forelimbs and faces similar to those of mountain dogs.
The face is similar to that of a mountain dog and the chest hair and chest hair are also represented on a higher level by pasting clay. A pair of iron-glazed guardian dogs from Isho Shrine in Nagoya City, with an inscription in ink dated 1418 (Oei 25), is thought to be of similar age to this pair of komainu.
