Humane history in Japan

[Guest guest]

Back in November 2002, in an ANIMAL PEOPLE guest column

entitled " Animal welfare in Japan, " Animal Refuge Kansai founder

Elizabeth Oliver recounted:

 

 

" Before World War II, dogs were kept primarily by people

affluent enough to have a house and land. They may have been kept as

guard dogs, but were seldom chained and could roam at will.

" Because they were free and were usually greeted by everyone,

they tended to be friendly. Hachiko, for example, an Akita, used

to see his master off at the Shibuya railway station in Tokyo every

morning and go back to the station to greet him on his return in the

evening. One day his master died suddenly, but Hachiko continued to

go to the station every day until he died of old age. The Japanese

were so impressed by his devotion and loyalty that they erected a

statue to him, which still stands outside the Shibuya station.

'A dog like Hachiko could not roam in Tokyo today. People

would be frightened of him, and the hokensho would quickly dispatch

him to the gas chamber. "

 

 

I have just discovered that about half of page 12 of the

December 1934 edition of The National Humane Review provided further

detail about Hachi-Ko, as the article called him, and included

photographs of both the then still living Hachi-Ko and the statue in

his honor.

 

The headline is " Monument to a Living Dog. "

 

Explains the text, " In 1922 Dr. Elizabeth Ueno, professor

of the Colege of Agriculture at the Imperial University, a devoted

friend of dogs, obtained a puppy from Akita...Dr. Ueno had no

children...The pup was named Hachi and the Ko, which literally means

prince but is also a term of endearment, was added later...Dr. Ueno

died in 1924 when the dog was two years old. "

 

Hachi-Ko was adopted by Ueno's gardener, Kobayashi, but 12

years later Hachi-Ko was still going to the train station every

afternoon, looking for Ueno, and his loyalty to her memory had made

him a celebrity.

 

The statue was commissioned by station master C. Yoshikawa.

 

 

According to Oliver's account, " The Japan Animal Welfare

Society, the first humane organization in Japan, was started circa

1946 by the wife of the then British Ambassador, Lady Gascoigne. "

 

This is consistent with accounts given in post-World War II

editions of the National Humane Review, but 1934 editions mention

humane societies then operating in both Tokyo, with patronage of the

emperor, and in Kobe.

 

A thriving humane movement in China and Korea was destroyed

by the Japanese invasion that precipitated World War II in the

Pacific theatre. The casualties included SPCAs in Hong Kong,

Guangdong, Shanghai, Inchon, and Seoul, of which only the Hong

Kong SPCA ever reopened. Apparently Japan's own humane societies

were also casualties of the conflict.

 

Also of note, the National Humane Review in November 1934

described the unsuccessful efforts of 32 humane societies from all

over India to try to stop the sacrifice of 1,000 goats, 16 buffalo,

and 1,600 birds at Ellore, in response to a smallpox outbreak.

 

The leaders of the anti-sacrifice campaign were said to be

the Bombay Humanitarian League and the Madras SPCA.

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

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