They are called Bai Ze also known as Hakutaku in Japan. Bai Ze are intelligent and can understand human speech. They have been revered since ancient times as holy beast who ward off evil spirits. The come in many forms, but are most often depicted with human heads and ox-like bodies, magnificent beards, three eyes in their heads and six in their bodies, and two horns on their heads and four on their bodies. They are also sometimes portrayed with the face of a tiger and the body of a lion.
The Yellow Emperor encountered him on his travels around China, and described the appearance and features of 11,520 different types. His retainers wrote down these stories in a compendium called the "Baizetu," which immediately spread throughout China.

From: Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine