Kirin (麒麟, Qilin): The Gentle Beast That Appears Under Good Rule

What is a kirin?

It has the body of a deer and the tail of an ox, the hooves of a horse and a single horn, and its coat shows five colours. It lives a thousand years, or three. It walks so carefully that it treads on no insect and bends no blade of grass. And it cannot be seen whenever you like: it appears only when the world is well governed, and its appearance is the sign that it is.

That is the kirin — qilin in Chinese — one of the auspicious beasts of East Asian tradition alongside the dragon, the phoenix and the tortoise. It is imaginary, and it is good news. It was depicted in China by the fifth century BCE and in Japan by the eighth century CE, among the treasures of the Shōsōin.

What does kirin mean?

The name is written 麒麟, two characters built on the deer radical 鹿. In the old Chinese usage ki (麒) was the male and rin (麟) the female; the pair together named the species. The Japanese reading is KEE-reen.

In modern Japanese the same word means the giraffe. When a giraffe was brought from Africa to the Chinese court in 1419, it was presented as the legendary beast — a one-horned, cloven-hoofed, gentle animal of many colours that had appeared under a virtuous emperor — and when a stuffed giraffe was shown in Japan in 1877 the name came with it. The African animal borrowed the name of the imaginary one, not the other way round.

Appearance

Deer body, ox tail, horse hooves, one horn, five-coloured hair. The form varies by period and place: some images give it scales like a dragon’s, some a flaming mane, and modern designs sometimes add wings. There is no single correct kirin. Our illustration keeps the deer-like body, the hooves, the single horn and a long pale mane, and sets it beside a still stream at night.

Behavior and abilities

• It appears under good rule. Its presence is the omen.
• It harms nothing. Not insects, not grass. It is a benevolent beast that injures no living creature and no plant.
• It lives very long. A thousand years or more.

Its defining quality is restraint. It is strong — it carries a horn — and it uses none of that strength against anything alive.

Weaknesses and countermeasures

None are needed. A kirin is not a threat; its whole meaning is that it is not one. It belongs with the hakutaku and the kudan among the beasts whose appearance is a message rather than a danger.

Documented tradition and later imagery

Documented tradition. An auspicious imaginary beast of Chinese origin, depicted in Japan from the eighth century: deer body, ox tail, horse hooves, one horn, hair of five colours; it appears only when the world is well governed, lives a thousand years, and harms no living thing. The giraffe took its name in 1419 in China and 1877 in Japan.

Later imagery. Games and anime make the kirin a fierce, lightning- wielding beast, often winged and dragon-headed, and the name is now better known in the West from a beer label. The older kirin is more interesting for what it refuses to do. Its strength is real; its gentleness is a choice.