Pillar with Baku and Karashishi

A carved pillar at a shrine or temple gate bears the guardians Baku — the supernatural tapir that devours nightmares — and Karashishi, the Chinese lion-dog that protects sacred precincts. Shotei renders these sculptural subjects with the same careful observation he brought to natural subjects, the carved stone or wood forms detailed with their original painted or gilded surfaces. The choice of architectural ornament as a subject reflects the shin-hanga movement's interest in the full range of traditional Japanese material culture.