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This Japanese folk image beckons good fortune and good company into the home. What looks to a westerner as “bye-bye” is the gesture for “come here” in Japan.
Guardian Fox Messenger
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The fox is the guardian/messenger for Inari, the deity of rice who is honored at shrines throughout Japan. The fox is a trickster figure, able to change into any shape.
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Manjusri is the deity of wisdom in the Buddhist pantheon. I pictured him as a boy riding a Korean tiger.
Japanese Tiger
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This tiger is a guardian figure, one of a pair (the other is Chinese!)
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Kuan Yin is the Chinese name for the deity of mercy and compassion in the Buddhist pantheon who “hears the cries of the world.” (Chenrezig in Tibet, Kannon in Japan)
