Japanese
Unicorns
In
Japan the unicorn is not only the gentle k'i - lin, but also appears as
the kirin or the sin - you. The kirin strongly resembles the k'i - lin,
but the sin - you looks like a lion-thick-maned, tawny, and fierce-with
a single horn. Although it too had other forms, like that of a deer
or a goat, its eyes were always intent and threatening. It may well
have been a creature to fear, for the kirin had the uncanny ability to
detect right from wrong. When the sage Kau You presided in his court,
he decided
questions
of guilt and innocence himself, especially if they involved such minor |
|
things
as a disputed tea house, an injury sustained while riding in another family's
carriage, or a tomb that was not built to specificafions. But when
the case was a serious criminal one involving a death, he sometimes did
not entirely trust his own judgment. At those times he turned to
the sin - you. The sin - you always knew
who
was innocent and who was guilty, and its judgment was unsparing.
It would stand very still, fix its sun-flecked eyes upon
the guilty person, and then pierce him
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through
the heart with its horn. The Japanese unicorn, or kirin, could detect
guilt and would punish the guilty with death. The idea of a one-homed
creature became so solid a fixture in predicting births and deaths and
served as a warning that the guilty will surely
be punished. Whatever the reasons, the unicorn was an important part
of oriental culture.
In China and Japan the k'i-lin is a solitary animal who walks with measured
tread though some say the k'i-lin skips. The male is called the k'i,
while the female is the lin. No one knows for sure how the
unicorn was born, but some say the k'i-lin sprang from the center of the
earth. It always reaches its destination and, unlike ourselves, never
falls into a pit. Just as the dragon is the chief of all the creatures
of the sea, and the phoenix |
rules
the birds, so too is the k'i-lin the first, the most perfect, of all the
360 creatures of the land. Once it is tamed, no other animal will
know terror.to worry. |
