>>39791524It's a kirin, they're vegetarians that walk on water. Contrary to the western nickname of Asian unicorn they typically have two horns like dragons. Some depictions claim they have paws, others hooves, westerners will tell you hooves are females but I've never seen that on Jp sites.
>>39793228It's a lion dog or buddhist lion. Various names include fu dog, komainu, shishi, shiisa, etc. Entei is inspired by the same thing but there's a lot of regional variations over history. In particular some have more angular jagged features/manes that resemble sun symbols, while others are just a fluffy chonker or a good doggo. Shishi often have a single horn but its formal posture lost popularity to designs with cute puppies and balls that made it easier to remember the genders/tasks. In pairs you have one that wards off negative shit roaring like shiisa, and one that keeps good vibes in by keeping its mouth shut and dignified.
Raikou by the way is a raijuu, which is a generic term for all sorts of thunder monsters ranging from weasels and crabs to wolves and tigers. There's a town in Japan that does a tiger themed shishimai where the tiger dances in the mountain top, then on the roofs of buildings, to deter the "real tiger" from burning things with lightning. I ought to check if it's anywhere near Kyoto.
