Kirin
(麒麟）

麒(ki) means a male Kirin and 麟(rin) means a female one.
( there is an opposit story)
Today, Kirin is very popular among Japanese people as an image of Kirin Beer.

Kirin is an imaged animal and shows a sign of auspicious or good luck.
Its life is 1,000 years
It has yellow hair and 5 colored back-hair
A male Kirin has a horn (there are some kirin which have two horns).
It has
The head is derived from a wolf's,
the body is derived from a deer's, the legs are derived from horse's and
the tail is derived from cattle's.


It has been said that a Kirin appears when a virtuous king reign over the people
and when all his people enjoy his virtue.
It is also said that when a Kirin appears a saint will appear.


Kirin hate killing life and never step on living grass or insects.
So, in most of the pictures of Kirin, it always raise its legs.


( * a giraffe is also called kirin in Japanese)