Haetae

These are examples of haetae -- mythological creatures; usually in the form of lions. Haetae are "guardians" and often placed in front of gates or doors, or on roofs as explained in a previous post. The "lions" in the famous Chinese Lion Dances are haetae. I've always wondered why these lions do not look like lions -- the answer is that they are not "normal", but "mythical". I started collecting haetae-lions a couple years back.

In the photo below I played a bit with the colours -- pushing up the contrast and the colour saturation -- to get this interesting image.