JAPANESE CULTURE AND TRADITIONS
Baku — Weird, Wonderful, Nightmare-Eating Friends
The Japanese chimera with magical powers
If you’ve ever visited a Japanese Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple, you may have noticed some rather unusual creatures just under the eaves.
At first glance, they seem to be elephants. But there were no elephants in Japan until recent history, so where did that idea come from?
A little closer inspection reveals a different type of feet. Paws. They are paws with claws. A tiger’s feet — or are they from a Chinese shishi lion?
The eyes aren’t quite right either. And sometimes the ears are not an elephant’s at all. Both eyes and ears seem more like those of a rhinoceros.
What’s going on?
Legend tells us that when the gods finished creating the animals, they took all the leftover bits, threw them together, and created this animal, the baku.
Baku through the years
These curious creatures find their origin in ancient China, where it was believed that using a blanket…
