Most cultures have their own breeds of dogs. Dogs have provided us with companionship, protection, and help for thousands of years. Dogs were brought to the islands of Japan from China around 660 BC. But the Akita breed didn’t appear in documents until the early 17th century. A nobleman exiled to Akita Prefecture encouraged people to breed a strong hunting dog with superior intelligence and courage. The breed eventually took the name of the prefecture (Pflaumer, 1998).

At first, only samurai were allowed to own Akita. Leashes showed the owner’s social rank, and they used a special Akita language to train them. An emperor even issued and edict that required people to address the dog with honorifics. Samurai used Akita as guard dogs as to hunt deer, wild boar, bears, and waterfowl.

Akita would hunt bears in male and female pairs. The male would distract the bear while the female ran around and bit at its hocks until the hunter arrived to kill it (Thornton, 2011). Because of their dangerous prey, Akita don’t respond immediately like many other breeds. Instead, they prefer to assess the situation and then respond. This makes them sensitive to their owner’s thoughts and unspoken behavior (Pflaumer, 1998). They also don’t bark excessively; as deer hunters they have to be silent and attack without warning.

“The breed is a very primitive, wolf-type animal. The functions the Akita was developed to perform [i.e., hunting and fighting] are still evident in the breed’s dog-aggressiveness and instinctive hunting behavior when it comes to its interactions with other pets (Pflaumer, 1998).”

Although they aren’t scent-hunters, Akita can smell a deer between 200-300 yards away (Linderman, 1994). They adapt well to gunfire too.

Because of their close relationship to the wolf, Akita owners shouldn’t roughhouse with them. According to Pflaumer (1998), it can bring out their wolf nature and make the dog uncontrollable over time. As hunters, Akita also need a 30-minute walk twice a day to burn off their high energy. Luckily, food motivates them for training. However, they are known to hunt other small pets and dogs they haven’t grown up with, so owners need to be careful with training Akita.

Hachiko, the Loyal Akita

Among Akita, one dog’s story stands out. In fact, Hachiko’s story remains famous throughout the world. I’ll let the inscription from that Hachiko’s statue tell the story. This translation is from Linderman (1994):

Hachiko was born in Akita in November 1923. He was brought to Tokyo in January 1924 and was kept by Mr. Eisaburo Ueno, who then held the Chair of Professorship in the Department of Agriculture at the Imperial University.

Mr. Ueno was very kind to Hachi and the dog reciprocated in such a way that they become great friends. When Hachi grew up, he became a fine specimen of a large-size Japanese breed. He had a fine cream-colored coat with pointed ears and a curly tail, standing two feet tall and weighing 92 pounds.

It was Hachi’s custom to accompany his master every morning wet or fine to the Shibuya Station and wait for his return in the afternoon when the master and the dog would happily come home together.

This friendship lasted until lone day in May 1925. On that day, Hachi saw his master disappear among the crowd in the usual way at Shibuya Station, but that was the last he saw of him, for the master was taken ill while at work and died before he was brought home. The sad event occurred when Hachi was just over 16 months old, but Hachi never forgot his master. Hachi went daily after that to Shibuya Station, apparently in the hope of finding Mr. Ueno.

Sometimes he would stay there fore several days without returning home at all. The patient search lasted until March 8, 1934, when Hachi died on the very spot where he saw his master last. However, even before Hachi’s death, people who saw the pathetic figure of this faithful creature growing old day by day where so deeply moved by the sight that they decided to erect a statue in memory of this noble animal.

In April 1934, a beautiful bronze statue executed by the famous sculptor, Mr. Ando Teru, was erected in front of the Shibuya Station, but in 1945 this statue was regrettably taken down by order of the Army and was later melted down for use in making war weapons.

Soon after the end of the war a plan for re-erecting the statue was contemplated and it was then decided to entrust the making of the new statue to Mr. Ando Takeshi, the sun of Mr. Ando Teru, who unfortunately was killed in one of the air raids during the war.

The new statue is similar in size and shape to the old one and it will not doubt be instrumental in perpetuating the sweet memory of faithful Hachiko.

The statue has become a meeting place for teens and a symbol for faithfulness and devotion. Hachiko has inspired several films and stories, and he was even in attendance during the first statue’s unveiling.

The Akita is a unique Japanese breed that remained relatively unknown in the US until Helen Keller brought it to people’s attention in 1937. The breed had a brief period as a mixed fighting breed. And during World War II, people turned to Akita for food and fur out of desperation. Few breeds have such a strong association with our ideas of virtue, sacrifice, devotion, and loyalty as the Akita.

References

Linderman, Joan and Virginia Funk. (1994) The New Complete Akita. New York, Howell Book House.

Pflaumer, Sharon (1998) The awe-inspiring akita. Dog World 83 (2).

Street, M.R. (2011) Hachiko: Dog of Japan. Faces. 27 (9) 16-17.

Thornton, Kim Campbell (2011) Eastern Monument. Dog World. January. 30-35.