It has the body of a deer, the tail of an ox, and a single, soft horn.
As messenger of mercy and benevolence, the Kirin never treads on a live
insect or eats growing grass. Later philosophy made this imaginary beast
the incarnation of those five primordial elements--earth, air, water,
fire and ether of which all things, including man's body, are made and
which are symbolized in the shapes of the cube, globe, pyramid, saucer
and tuft of rays in the Japanese gravestones. It is said to attain the
age of a thousand years, to be the noblest form of the animal creation
and the emblem of perfect good. In Chinese and Japanese art this
creature holds a prominent place, and in literature even more so. It is
not only part of the repertoire of the artist's symbols in the Chinese
world of ideas, but is almost a necessity to the moulds of thought in
eastern Asia. Yet it is older than Confucius or the book-religions, and
its conception shows one of the nobler sides of Animism.
The Feng-hwang or Phoenix, Japanese H[=o]-w[=o], the second of the
incarnations of the spirits, is of wondrous form and mystic nature. The
rare advent of this bird upon the earth is, like that of the kirin or
unicorn, a presage of the advent of virtuous rulers and good government.
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