Hey Foo Dog

I'm going to save my negative comments about the Kirin pack for another day, today I'm much to excited by Foo Dogs to talk about anything else.

My good friend Bailey Skystaff let me hatch with her fire foo, and lo and behold I got one. This resulted in literally 'squee'-ing out loud. 

 As you might have guessed I am really into anything that has to do with Japanese culture.

So what is a Foo Dog exactly? 

Well Foo Dogs aren't really dogs at all. They are lions. In Chinese they are called 'shishi' -- which means 'stone lion', and in Japanese they are called 'komainu'. 

In Japan, komainu -- which means 'korean dog' guard the entrance to shinto shrines.

 They are always found in pairs. 

Big komainu and little.

 I don't usually recommend it but Wikipedia has a nice article about shishi, if you're interested I suggest you take a look. 

If I had to assign the Foo Dog a real dog counterpart I think it would be a pug. The smooshy face. It is undeniable. 

via: it's called ephemera

Now if only they would snort too... I think I would be in heaven.

(One thing that keeps bugging me is that the dogs have a collar/medallion on. It has kanji (Chinese character) on it, and I don't know what it is. My kanji reading skills are hardly existent, but still it's bothering me! What does it say? Does anyone know? Or is it just 'faux-kanji'?)

~Heather

P.S.

Oh you want more? If you're a music/smooshy faced dog lover, you'll appreciate this song (which is my post title reference):