Kyusyu is an old island located in the south of Japan and there are quite a few temples and shrines scattered all around the island. To tell the truth, I'm not a Buddhist nor a Shintoist except in case of a funeral and a wedding ceremony, I'm not so familiar with this kind of theme, but I at least know that most temples have a pair of statues called the "two Deva Kings." They are standing at an entrance gate of a temple. The most interesting thing for me is that one of the gods is always saying "Ah" and the other one is saying "Uhm." According to Wikipedia, "Ah" means the start of everything and "Uhm" means the end of everything because Japanese syllabary table starts from "Ah" and ends at "Uhm." Apart from the religious meaning, "Ah and Uhm" is sometimes used to describe how a pair of men are acting cooperatively without a lot of words. When one of the men said "Ah" and the other one responed to what his partner wanted, we call the situation "Ah and Uhm breathing" in Japanese.
It is amazing that chinese has similar culture too.
Long ago Chinese believes that there was a magical peach tree that grew on on Mount Tu Shuo. It was so big that its branches spread for miles around. The branches that spread toward the north-east formed the Door of the Spirits through which millions of souls past after they died. Two guards, Shen Shu and Yu Lei were assigned to guard this entrance. Those who had been evil during their lives were instructed by the Jade Emperor to be caught, bound and thrown to the tigers.
The names Shen Shu and Yu Lei from the ancient legend were later changed to Ch'in Shu-pao and Hu Ching-te during the Tang Dynasty. Once guardians of the entrance to the spirit world, the door gods were gradually assigned to warding off evil spirits in the homes of earthly beings. Today, pictures or statues of the door gods can be found guarding the entrances to Chinese homes,temples, restaurants and stores.
Posted by: Fred | March 19, 2008 at 10:59 AM
> Fred
I found the picture of "Shen Shu and Yu Lei" - http://mythology.ourgardenpath.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/chinesedoorgods.jpg
As you mentioned, they are very similar!
Posted by: mochi | March 19, 2008 at 03:10 PM