Wood, with black and gold lacquer. Inlaid eyes. Minor damages and restorations. (2)

The custom of pairing a lion and a liondog (komainu) seems to have started in the Heian period (794-1185). In the Nara period (710-794), the pair was composed of two lions. The closed-mouth animal with a horn on his forehead is a komainu, the one with the open mouth a lion. In ourdays, the pair is placed outside the gate of a temple or shrine. In the Heian and Kamakura periods (1185-1333) the pair was seated inside, under the roof of the gate or the building.
See http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/eng/dictio/choukoku/komainu.html, Text by Shiro Ito, Department of Museum Research, Kyôto National Museum.