Chief among these are what in Chinese literature, so slavishly borrowed by the Japanese, are called the four supernatural or spiritually endowed creatures--the Kirin or Unicorn, the Phoenix, the Tortoise and the Dragon.[15] Mythical Zooelogy.
Of the first species the _ki_ is the male, the _lin_ is the female, hence the name Kilin.

The Japanese having no _l_, pronounce this Kirin.
Its appearance on the earth is regarded as a happy portent of the advent of good government or the birth of men who are to prove virtuous rulers.
It has the body of a deer, the tail of an ox, and a single, soft horn.
As messenger of mercy and benevolence, the Kirin never treads on a live insect or eats growing grass.

Later philosophy made this imaginary beast the incarnation of those five primordial elements--earth, air, water, fire and ether of which all things, including man's body, are made and which are symbolized in the shapes of the cube, globe, pyramid, saucer and tuft of rays in the Japanese gravestones.

It is said to attain the age of a thousand years, to be the noblest form of the animal creation and the emblem of perfect good.

In Chinese and Japanese art this creature holds a prominent place, and in literature even more so.