By Teruo Miyazawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff WriterThis is the second installment in a series.
AKITA — By observing long-haired Akita dogs, we are given the opportunity to reconsider the relationship between the Japanese people and Japanese dogs, and this leads to examining the relationship between people
and pets.
During the Taisho era (1912-1926) and the early Showa era (1926-1989), traditional Akita dogs with erect ears and curled tails disappeared and were replaced by new Akita dogs — “Shin-Akita” — with the strong bloodline of Tosa fighting dogs from crossbreeding.
Chuken Hachiko, an Akita dog famous for its unshakable loyalty to his master, was born in 1923. Hachiko, which originally had erect ears and a curled tail, was a rare Akita dog in those days. However, it is believed that even Hachiko had the mixed bloodline of Shin-Akita dogs.
The Akitainu Introduction Foundation, known as Akiho, was established mainly by then Odate Mayor Shigeie Izumi in 1927, and Nihonken Hozonkai (the Japanese dog preservation association), known as Nippo, was established in 1928 under the leadership of Hirokichi Saito, a pioneer of the Japanese dog preservation movement.
These associations cooperated to reproduce the archetypal Akita dog with erect ears and a curled tail. Many prominent local people and landowners participated in the movement. The social atmosphere after the introduction of the so-called Taisho Democracy, the development of democracy in various fields in those days, worked in favor of the movement.
Tokio Kaburagi, a professor of agriculture at the University of Tokyo, who served as chief director of Nippo, was in charge of an investigation to have Japanese dogs, including Akita dogs, designated as a national natural treasure.
Kaburagi reminisced about those days in a book titled “Showa Nihonken no Kento” (Study of Japanese dogs in the Showa era), published in 1936. “I’m surprised at the government’s great power that has fueled today’s Japanese dog boom by designating Japanese dogs as a natural treasure, though it advanced with the flow of nationalism,” he wrote.
The owner of Hachiko, Hidesaburo Ueno, a professor of agriculture at the university, was a dog lover and favored Akita dogs that look like typical Japanese dogs. Before Hachiko, he frequently kept Akita dogs. However, these dogs disappointed Ueno as their ears did not stand up when some of them died early. On the other hand, Hachiko delighted Ueno as it grew to be an incomparable Akita dog, even though the dog was sickly at first. Ueno loved Hachiko as it grew into an authentic Akita dog.
Improving quality
After the end of World War II, an Akita dog boom occurred in parallel with the high economic growth and Akita dogs were traded at high prices according to the results at dog shows. There were some problems such as the intervention of gangster organizations. But the quality of Akita dogs improved.
A slight sag of skin and a softness of coat fur were selected for breeding as they were regarded as Shin-Akita dogs’ features.
Nowadays, lop-eared Akita dogs that annoyed Akita dog breeders for a long time do not appear. On the other hand, the Akita dog’s long hair that comes from the bloodline of Karafuto dogs is hated as this is a persistent genetic throwback. People concerned are worried that if they accept long-haired Akita dogs, “amateurs” might breed them with standard Akita dogs without thinking. They are afraid of something similar to what happened when the bloodline spread from Tosa fighting dogs.
After saying it is just his personal opinion, Yasutami Togashi, 71, chairman of Akiho, commented: “If we shift the situation to the human world, I could understand people saying, ‘Don’t discriminate against long-haired Akita dogs.’”
However, he stressed at the same time: “The purpose of launching Akiho is to preserve good Akita dogs. It’s natural to respect our members who work hard to breed authentic Akita dogs, following the archetypal Akita dog standard.”
Meanwhile, the world’s dog breeds have been fixed more or less through selection (see below). Not only their appearances, but other features such as the level of aggressiveness were also fixed through selection.
Hirokichi Saito, who popularized Hachiko, regarded Akita dogs as a new breed and described them as “sculptured candies,” according to Mutsuo Okada, 78, an expert on historical studies of Akita dogs and a former vice chairman of the Tokyo-based Akitainu Kyokai association.
Akita dogs are a “work” created by contemporary Japanese people who pursue their “ideal dog breed,” he said.
Selection
In the case of dogs, selection means not allowing offspring of a dog that has atypical physical features, dispositions or diseases to become fixed as a certain breed. It was not rare in the past to take such measures as culling or abandoning undesirable dogs. “New creation,” is a related term which means creating ideal dogs suitable for screening standards through breeding
source : http://www.the-japan-news.com
