Himeji castle (PART4)

Shachi is an imaginary animal that the figure is a fish, the head is a tiger, the tail fin always faces the sky, and the back has several sharp thorns on its back.
It was regarded as the guardian deity of the building.
This is made of shachi with tiles.

鯱瓦です。
鯱とは、姿は魚で頭は虎、尾ひれは常に空を向き、背中には幾重もの鋭いとげを持っているという想像上の動物です。

Himeji Castle daitenshu has 11 shachi.

姫路城の大天守には11尾の鯱がいます。

Unfortunately there is only one shachi at the time of construction.
The current shachi is made using it as a model.

残念ながら建築当初の鯱は1尾しかありません。
現在の鯱はそれを模して作ったものです。