This is the best Karura, Japanese Garuda, image which I have:
you can see it in higher resolution at:
http://groupkos.com/mtwain/WOW/FinalPrayer1.jpg
the photo is from the front of an Antique Shop in Matsumoto-shi, the city of the Black Samurai Castle (Matsumoto-jo). this Karura stands about two meters tall. it is perhaps the favorite of my photos taken in Nagano-ken.
here is a modern depiction, of Karura become a Buddhist monk:
http://www.cc.rim.or.jp/~atsuro/complex01/enkoh.html
Originally, to the best of my studies, Garuda was the Great Mother NuWa or Naga from China and Asia, representing the Sun (Sun-Crow in China) or the Ocean Dragon (Lung or Ryu). Later, in the Patriarchal era, she was re-deified as a Masculine enemy of snakes and dragons, the enemy of magick and the Feminine wisdom of nature/creation.
Here is a another depiction, Khyung in Tibet:
For our Great Mother Amaterasu ...