Shisa are these mythological half dog/half lion creatures that are literally everywhere in Okinawa. They come in pairs and people put them on their roofs or in front of their doors/entryway to their house just for decoration. Just kidding, there's more to it than that. The Shisa dogs are believed to protect from evil. They usually come in pairs - one with an open mouth to ward off evil spirits and another with a closed mouth to keep good spirits in. One of them is a female and one is male. (wikipedia seems confused as to which is which.. it says that the open mouth is female sharing goodness while the male keeps the bad out of the home with a closed mouth but it also says that the female has her mouth closed to 'keep in the good' while the male has his mouth open to scare away the bad.)
These were the first shisa dogs we spotted...
They were guarding our luggage as it came off the carousel. (and both their mouths are open... somebody must have messed that one up!)
As you can see, these are very traditional..
They sell them everywhere!
Found these ones at an antique shop in Naha (capital city of Okinawa)
Actually it was just an ANTIQU shop. They ran out of space for the E.
Even the graffiti in Okinawa has a Shisa Dog theme.
You can even buy them in vending machines! (look on the bottom row next to the A&W cans)
There was a store that had paint your own Shisa dogs.
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