Akita - A History

Prehistoric Japan
 During the Ice Age, the archipelago that now comprises the Japanese Islands was a crescent-shaped strip of land surrounding an inland sea. At the northern end was the Siberian peninsula, and at the southern, what is now Korea. Stone age nomads followed game across the land bridges, migrating from different areas of Siberia into Alaska and into Japan. The earliest stone tools found so far indicate that people were in Japan as early as 15,000 years ago.
 The descendants of these immigrants lived into modern times with the descendants of the spitz-type dogs who accompanied them and helped in the hunt. Excavations of Joman Period (about 10,000 years ago) sites have yielded the remains of these dogs, which are similar in type to those found with many of the primitive people of the Arctic as well as Korea, China and Japan Indonesia, and Australia.
 Recent archaeological findings indicate that migrations from Korea and China began an agricultural society which gradually pushed the nomadic tribes northward. The melting ice sheets of North America caused drastic changes through-out the world. In Japan, the rise in sea level created a chain of islands stretching about what is now the Sea of Japan. The islands vary in size and topography as well as climate, which ranges from tropical to almost Arctic.
 Once the land mass separated into islands, the necessity for some type of raft or boat for travel between the mainland and the islands or between the islands themselves greatly restricted the exchange between them. Differentiation between the native spitz-type dogs would have begun with the resulting isolation, and over time, each areas dogs would have become more suited for an areas narrower hunting needs. These dogs would also become less generic in appearance as the number of breeding choices decreased.

Trading Partners
 Trade routes from the north reached the Ainu people of Hokkaido and Karafuto from Siberia and Mongolia. In the south, the Japanese alternately fought and traded with Korea. Their premier partner was the already-established empire of China. Their vigorous trade relationship stretches back over 2500 years ago.
 China fascinated the Japanese, who at first enthusiastically embraced Chinese ways. They adopted Chinese writing and melded their native Shinto religion with the Chinese form of Buddhism. They also imported the techniques for planting and harvesting rice.
 Between the court aristocrats, dogs were a favorite and favored gift. The Chinese sent many dogs to Japan. They varied from the little Chin lap dog so popular with the Japanese ladies and their Chinese counterparts to coursing hounds that worked with hunting hawks. Among pictures of dogs used by the Chinese for coursing are ones that look like a stockier, hairier Saluki than we have today. These dogs were undoubtedly introduced to China from the Middle East and Europe by caravan trade along the Silk Road.
 Although they assimilated many Chinese ways into their culture, in a cycle repeated many times, the Japanese gradually became more insular and underwent a period of isolation. By the turn of the sixteenth century, the lucrative silk trade was carried out by an intermediary with ocean-going ships. The Portuguese, through Jesuit missionaries, had its sole custody, and through them, some European dogs found their way to the Japanese Court.
 
 Under Ieyasu Tokugawa, Japan shed its isolation for a while and opened its ports to foreign ships from other European countries. With these Westerners came even more foreign dogs (kari inu). Most of these were of a sight-hound type. Ieyasu is reported to have kept 60-70 of them to course deer. (Kuga, JD, 56) The popularity of foreign dogs coupled with little interest in breeding might have spelled an end to the native dogs had Ieyasu’s descendants had the same interest in foreigners.
 However, by 1635, the Japanese retreated again to a period of national isolationism. In 1640, Ieyasu’s son and heir closed all of Japan except the port at Yokohoma to foreigners except for trade with Mongolia, Korea, and China. Japan’s isolation remained unbroken for two hundred years, ending when U.S. Admiral Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay and declared it at an end. His warship sitting in their harbour backed up his demands.

Open to the US and Europe
Once again, Japan began a cycle of interest in all-things foreign, focusing on the Western world this time. European mining engineers began working in the mines of northern Honshus mountains.
 Part of this area is now known as Akita Prefecture, but during the 1800s, it was called Dewa, and the main city, Odate. Located far from the cities of the western plains, it was a mountainous, rugged, cold area. The large game of this area consisted of boar, elk, and the small Yezo bear, like this one. The dogs used for hunting in the north had long been known for their larger size.
 According to breed lore, a long-ago nobleman developed one strain of dog especially suited for this type of hunt. An excellent candidate for this legend was the scion of the Sanehide family who took refuge in the Akita area when the family fell out of favor with Ieyasu Tokugawa. Dewa was the perfect backwater for a Daimyo with little to do (Sanson, 415). His breeding efforts could well have been the beginning of the large Japanese hunting dog.
 In contrast to the rural areas, Japan’s densely populated cities commonly had dogs of mixed native and foreign stock. Except for the Japanese Chin, no one seems to have made any effort to develop or preserve breeds.
 Dog fights had been a favored sport of the samurai caste for centuries. While these dogs in earlier times would have had other jobs like hunting , with the changes brought about by Westernization, some dogs were dedicated to this sport. A favorite was the Tosa Fighting Dog, a crossbred from the native Tosa (Shikoku) Dog and various imported mastiff types.
 To increase size and fighting prowess, the same kind of crosses went on in the north with the native dog of the Dewa/Akita area. Breeds likely to have been used were Great Danes (Deutsche Dogges) brought from home by German mining engineers. and Tibetan Mastiffs brought with Mongolian traders.

Preservation Movement Begins
A push towards preservation of the native Japanese dogs grew out of the increasing sense of Japanese nationalism that ushered in the twentieth century. As Japanese interest began to focus on their own history and culture, they began paying attention to the dogs that had been in Japan throughout time.
 Fortunately, the isolation of the rural north from the agricultural, heavily urbanized areas of the plains ensured that rural hunting had remained an important source of food. When attention turned to the native dogs, the matagi inu (hunting dogs) could still be located to serve as foundation stock.
 Of prime importance in this movement was Professor Shozaburo Watase who published an article about Japanese dogs in the Japanese magazine Inu (Dog) in 1915. He also began lecturing on them and chaired a historical preservation committee for the Ministry of Home Affairs. He and others wanted to preserve the native Japanese dogs and further knowledge about and interest in them.
 Professor Watase’s efforts came to fruition when, in July of 1931, the government of Japan declared the large dog of Japan a Natural Monument. It was named for the Akita Prefecture where it originated. Over the next six years, other breeds followed.
In the medium-size category are: Kai (Kai-Ken), the Kishu, the Shikoku, and the Hokkaido. The Shiba is the small dog. The committee gained support from people all over Japan.
 Although a club for Akita fanciers, the Akita Inu Hozonkai (AKIHO), had already been formed in 1927, the push for government support came primarily from Nipponken Hozonkai or NIPPO. This club was formed in June of 1928 by Mr. Hirokichi Saito from Tokyo and several other interested men. NIPPO began registering Japanese dogs, publishing a newsletter, and holding shows.
  Interest in Akitas received quite a boost from publicity about the breed. First came the tale of Hachi-Ko, which made the front page of the Tokyo papers in 1932. These stories, especially Hachi-Ko’s, focused national attention on the value of the native dogs. Fortunately, this attention coincided with the rising spirit of nationalism; otherwise, the native dogs of Japan might have disappeared altogether.
 Very few could be found in urban areas. To help determine whether a dog truly represented the native type, NIPPO developed a written standard, first published in September, 1934. To generate it, committee members used writings about the dogs from previously published articles, outside opinions, judging at their early shows, studies of historical documents, observations of regional dogs, standards from Northern dogs in general as well as their own opinions. Among the outside sources is Siebold’s Fauna Japonica, a treatise on archeological remains.
 Efforts began with the remnants of the large dog found in Akita Province, but the committee clearly had problems determining what the dog should be. For two centuries, the original hunting dog had been corrupted by cross-breeding to improve its prowess in the dog-fighting ring making the committee’s task of determining just what the real” Akita dog should be much more difficult.
 All sorts of dogs had been crossed into the native dogs, including many European giant breeds, and Great Danes. Their influence undoubtedly was responsible for the renowned size of dogs from Odate, the main city of Akita Province. If the Akita area dogs were thought of as “large” the Odate dogs were referred to as huge, and Odate was not the only area with huge dog.
Fortunately, the matagi dogs of the rural mountains provided a reservoir of stock used to begin restoration.

World War II
 Obviously, all these breeding efforts came to a halt with the advent of WWII. Whatever direction the Japanese dogs might have taken without its intervention is conjecture. Keeping large dogs alive in a country on a war-time footing proved almost impossible. Not only was food restricted, but dog fur was used to line military clothing.
 Because they were a drain on a fragile economy, police in Akita Prefecture received orders that all dog in the towns and villages except the German Shepherds used by the military and police were to be taken and clubbed to death. Dogs that survived were either working with the police or hidden by their owners, an easier task in the more rural areas.
 The toll on all the dogs was enormous. By the end of the war, the Akita was close to extinction. Dedicated efforts managed to keep the breed viable, and by 1948, a third Akita organization, Akitainu Kyokai, (AKIKYO) had been formed. Each club, NIPPO, AKIHO, and AKIKYO maintains its own registry, has its own breed standard, and holds its own shows. Many dog were registered and shown in more than one of these organizations.