Tuesday, June 15, 2010

I want to see a picture of a kirin


Search
: kirin; qilin

Why: Chandler and I had a nice talk about Japanese beer names and their meanings. A quick review:
  • Asahi - "morning sun"
  • Ichiban - "number one"
  • Kirin - "giraffe"
  • Sapporo - a city in Hokkaido, which is the northernmost big island / prefecture of Japan
BUT! I just looked this business up again (because the eavesdropping waitress giggled a little, what a b) and turns out the name kirin actually comes from the name for "a mythical horned Chinese deer-like creature that is said to appear only when a sage has appeared." WHAT!

Answer: Omg it's so majestic!!
The name may also be spelled qilin, kylin, kyrin, or qilin (pronounced "kay-lun" in Cantonese).
It is a good omen that brings serenity and prosperity. It is often depicted with what looks like fire all over its body. In most drawings, its head looks like that of a Chinese dragon. The qilin is sometimes translated as unicorn in English, because it is superficially similar to the unicorn in being a hooved imaginary beast having a single horn on its head.
Here is a statue of one in front of Beijing's Summer Palace. Zuul Y/Y?
The Qilin could recognise whether a person was guilty or not. Although it looks fearsome, the Qilin only punishes the sinners; when it walked on grass, it could not trample it. Being a peaceful creature, its diet did not include flesh.
In Japanese, the qilin is called a kirin. Japanese art tends to depict the qilin as more deerlike than in Chinese art. The word kirin has come to be used in modern Japanese for a giraffe.
But that thing on the Kirin label is a magical fire unicorn. Why don't I have a giant tattoo of it on my person? Yet?

Source: Knowledge Rush, Google Images

The More You Know
: I feel as though someone is pulling my leg with this shit. Who still needs something to wear to the My Little Pony party?

2 comments:

  1. my first favorite part of this post is the blue pony unicorn.

    my second favorite part of this post is the snickering waitress.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i will operate under the impression that kirin ichiban directly translates as 'number one giraffe beer'.

    ReplyDelete