Local shrines in Japan "Komainu"

I live in Osaka. I like to go to a shrine. I see that there is Komainu in a shrine when I went to a shrine.(when I went to a shrine I saw there was a komainu) Komainu is maybe looked at like a dog or a lion. Occasionally it also happens that its appearance is not like a dog or a lion. For example a fox. Wth kanji it is "狛犬". Almost all Komainu is one set in two of them. One side of Komainu is opened a mouth, and the other side of Komainu is a closed  mouth. It is placed at befor a building called "ha i de n". "ha i de n" is a place where bowing, ring a bell as grab a rope and shake, throw a coin, and so on.

Local shrines in Japan: "Komainu"

I live in Osaka, and I often like to go to the shrine. When I went to the shrine, I saw that there is a Komainu. A Komainu looks like a dog or a lion, but occasionally there can be Komainus that don't look like dogs or lions. For example, it can also look like a fox. With kanji it is "狛犬". Almost all Komainu come in a set where there are two of them. On one side, the Komainu has an open mouth, and on the other side the second Komainu has a closed mouth. It is placed in front of a building called "ha i de n". A "ha i de n" is a place where you bow, ring a bell as you grab a rope and shake, throw in a coin, and so on.