| The Cock |
The Cock represents five virtues. Its comb represents
civilization, its strong feet represent military strength, it fights well with an
enemy--courage, having found food, it calls friends for the sake of humanity, and watching
for the dawn it is faithful . |
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| The Cow |
The Cow (Ox) is considered a year of luck. |
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| The Dog |
The dog appears in Japanese history in connection with Shogun
Tsunayoshi 1860-1709, who was so fond of dogs that he was given the nickname of Inu-Kubo
Dog Prince. |
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| The Dragon |
The dragon typifies benevolent constructive forces. |
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| The Horse |
The horse is especially mentioned in connection with the
death of Emperor Suinin, 29 B. C.-70 A.D., when, for the first time, instead of living
beings buried alive, terra-cotta images of men, horse, and various other things were set
around the grave. |
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| The Monkey |
The monkey has little meaning. The three monkeys,
"seeing no evil," "hearing no evil," and "speaking no evil,"
are connected with Koshen, god of the roads. |
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| The Rabbit |
The rabbit is connected with the moon. The Sanskrit word for
moon means, literally, "one who carries the hare." |
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| The Rat |
Associated with Daikoku, the God of Wealth. |
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| The Sheep |
The sheep is not very numerous in Japan and doesn't figure as
prominently as the other zodiac signs. The sheep huddled together represents mutual
protection. |
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| The Snake |
The snake is associated with Benten, the Japanese Venus, sea
goddess and goddess of love and beauty. She is often represented with a snake coiled
around the rock on which she is seated. |
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| The Tiger |
The tiger is associated with the story of a Zen priest. The
priest had a cat which a dog killed. He deplored its death and said: "As you are an
animal, you cannot become a Buddha; but because the tiger is the highest of all animals,
you must be reborn a tiger." |
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