Mythology Take 3: Qilin/Kilin/Kirin

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Another Mythology blog/journal/thingy!

This time Isisiris24 (link: isisiris24.deviantart.com/ ) asked me for info on the Qilin.

So, I figured let's go investigate Eastern mythology!

The Kilin (or Qilin as it's also known) is part of several Eastern mythologies including China, Korea and Japan. (They're the ones I'm going to focus on later)

The name is actually from the Somali word, Geri – that means giraffe. Ages ago in the Ming Dynasty, when giraffes were brought over from Somalia, the people of China thought they were magic creatures, cause they were so odd looking. Cool huh! Despite this, Kilin/Qilin are more often look more or less like a stylised tiger with antlers – like an antelope – and scales, like a fish or dragon.  They were quite peaceful creatures and the appearance of one in a story often meant some rich traveller or a wise man was coming. However, if a pure or innocent person was about to be harmed on their watch, a Kilin/Qilin would fight fiercely to protect them (fire breathing and everything!)

The Kilin/Qilin is a good omen, bringing rui – roughly translates as peace or riches. They are said to be hooved creatures, and much like chimera ( a creature usually depicted as a hideous creature: a lion, with the head of a goat arising from its back, and a tail that ended in a snake head) they are a combination of different creatures, most often deer, dragons, ox and horses. It was also often depicted with fire all over its body. It's sometimes called the "Chinese unicorn" but this is unreliable and incorrect, a name made up by Westerners.

Over the centuries (and between cultures) the Kilin/Qilin has been portrayed differently, for instance in China Kilin/Qilin are more likely to be portrayed as a mixture of horse and dragon (usually horse body and dragon head with fire and smoke etc.) as the main animals. Where as in Korea (where it's pronounced Kirin) It's more likely to be some kind of creature with a mane, a mixture of deer, ox and horse as the main animals (The Kirin was also one of Korea's four divine creatures – the other three were the dragon, the phoenix and – wait for it – the turtle!) In Japan, the Kilin/Qilin was also pronounced Kirin (as in Korea) and Kirin now means giraffe in the Japanese language. Japanese Kirin are more deer like than the others. They also are more likely to have a unicorn-like horn (backwards and curvy).

Laters!
mynameisqwerty
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ImmaCatastrophe's avatar
This was... actually quite awesome, thanks!