A guardian dog sits in the middle of the approach through the torii gate of a shrine. The carving of an a-gyo (a form of a guardian dog) on the right side of the dog caught my attention. The komainu are said to be meant to ward off evil spirits and protect the deity. As a lover of sculptures, I was impressed by the powerful appearance of the guardian dogs, which are spiritual beasts, doing their utmost to ward off evil spirits. Originally, the open-mouthed "a-gata" was a lion and the closed-mouthed "un-gyo" was a dog, but now they seem to be mixed up. I changed it to a dog, and drew the muscles of a man and a horse as a reference to the spirit of a guardian dog that will not let anything bad pass through.
