NIPPO Registration: Membership/Litters/Dogs/Kennels

To start with, here is NIPPO's contact information:
https://www.nihonken-hozonkai.or.jp/
email: nippo@nihonken-hozonkai.or.jp/
1F Surugadai Sunrise Bldg, 2-11-1 Kanda Surugadai
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan 101-0062
〒101-0062
東京都千代田区神田駿河台2-11-1
駿河台サンライズビル1Ｆ
TEL:03-3291-6035　FAX:03-3291-1985

To register a litter/dog/kennel, one must be a NIPPO member. Membership is 5000 yen per year, with an initial registration fee of 3000 yen. Here is the application form.

To register a litter or single dog:

First, there are three methods of registration:
Litter, single, and limited.
A stipulation for full litter registrations is that the pups are under 1 year old.
For single dog registration transfers, there is no age limit (but dogs have to come from clubs listed at the bottom of this post).

To register a litter (and receive full registration) it must be produced by:
A)grand sire/dam, and sire/dam of the same Nihon Ken breed.
B)dogs registered with a Nihon Ken only registry (see list below).
C)a dam with a full NIPPO registration, and a sire from a registry as stipulated in B).

The application form is sent to you on request, from NIPPO HQ. Here is what it looks like.

The details included in the form are date of breeding & birth, dam & sire, pup names & ownership. The kennel that produced the litter (dam's owner) fills out the form, and the owner of the sire signs at the bottom that the breeding took place, the date of breeding, and that information included is correct. 

Registration Fee: Up to 60 days old, 3500 yen per pup. Over 60 days old, 4000 yen per pup.

To register a single dog from another registry (and receive full registration) it must be produced by:
A)grand sire/dam, and sire/dam registered with a NK only registry (see list below).

Limited registration if:
A)grand sire/dam, and sire/dam are registered with a registry that is not NK inclusive (see list below)
B)ancestors of dogs in A) are NIPPO registered.
You will need to talk to NIPPO HQ on a case by case basis of whether or not they will give a specific dog limited registration.

You can receive full NIPPO registration when transferring a dog from one of the following registries:

1. Akita Inu Hozonkai (AKIHO)

2. Akita Inu Kyokai

3. Hokkaido Ken Hozonkai

4. Kishu Ken Hozonkai

You can receive limited NIPPO registration when transferring a dog from one of the following registries:

1. Japan Kennel Club (JKC)

2. Kai Ken Aigokai (KKA)

3. Shiba Inu Hozonkai (SHIBAHO)

4. Hokkaido Ken Kyokai

5. China Kennel Association (CKA)

6. Taiwan Kennel Association (TKA)

When a bitch is bred on consecutive heats, there must be at least five months between the birth dates of the litters. Another rule is that sire & dam must be over 7 months old to be bred.

Dog names should make the dog's sex clear and have a maximum of 5 kanji/hiragana/katakana characters.

Registering a kennel:

Kennel names do not have to be in Japanese per se, but need to be in kanji/hiragana/katakana and have a maximum of 5 characters. 'Kensha' (kennel) cannot be part of the registered name.

I'll add here that most of the NK registries reserve the right to refuse name/kennel registrations if they don't believe they are appropriate.

Here is the form for kennel registration.

Kennel registration has a one time fee of 5000 yen.

GoPro 3

Yes it's here, I've gotten comfortable with the settings, have tested it in the mountains for a couple days now. All we need is some action. I have to say though, this little thing is AMAZING!

NIPPO 50th Anniversary Commemorative Manuscript: Reblog

Blogging this again since I have found another copy this week. This is a rare one. It's an old book, so has a bit of wear showing on the covers.

This monster of a book comes in 2 parts and was published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of NIPPO (the Japanese Dog Preservation Society). It contains everything NIPPO published from 1932-1978, including breed histories, standards, show results, pictures of winners etc. It's extremely hard to find now as it's long out of print. Brad Anderson of Yamabushi Kennel has what is probably one of the only copies in North America, and it is probably one of the only copies to be found outside of Japan (other than the last one I found which was sent to Romania).

If anyone's interested in owning a copy, feel free to contact me at kato.the.walrus@gmail.com and I'll figure out how much the shipping etc will cost. I've found a few copies of this, and they tend to cost around 15,000 yen + shipping.

Update: Available Shikoku Females 2013

Some more information on these two girls, here's a picture of their sire. He took 2nd place in the 'soken' class at the 2011 Nippo National.

Pedigree information incomplete, but a temporary entry here http://www.shikoku-pedigree.com/details.php?id=63383

 

These two girls were sired by Daijin out of Imanaka Sou, and their dam is Oushouhime out of Imanaka Sou. They are currently 3 and a half months old.

####################################Edited 2013/01/31 These two females have been homed.

Day 16-18

Day 16 was another beautifully sunny day, solid blue skies over the Boso peninsula. Just Baron and I today, which he likes since he gets to sit up front in the truck instead of in his crate in the back. Driving to our hunting spot I was flagged down by an old guy driving by in the other lane. As we got out and walked toward each other, I recognized him as a hunter my brother and I had run into before. These were the guys walking their big black retriever like dog that Baron tried to tustle with.

He told me that two days ago there'd been an accidental shooting. One of the guys in his hunting group had shot someone in the mountains, so his group was going to take the rest of the year off. It's a big deal here in Japan when there's any sort of crime or accident involving firearms, so the police, ambulances, doctor helicopter service etc had been all over the mountain I was heading toward. We said our goodbyes, and I headed on my way. Wasn't too much point in talking about it, and not too much point in heading to a different area. But seriously, another hunting accident? Later on in the day I found out more of the details since with the local dialect the old guys use, it's often hard to catch everything they're saying.

Well Baron and I hunted the area top to bottom. Nothing. Guess with all the noise and ruckus, the boar had decided to head for quieter spots to sleep. Baron and I pushed far back, and then swung all the way around down toward a little village and some fields. A few hundred meters from where we'd hit the first fields (thanks Google Earth), we descended and opening in front of us was a marshy area. There were some fresh tracks going through, and some boar wallows to look at. As I passed one, I saw what looked to me at first like a yellowing melon, laying on the ground. Boar eat pretty much everything, and I'm curious to see what they've been up to, so I gave it a little kick. The impact, and sound it made, told me this was not a melon. It was a skull, a couple sizes smaller than my head, but the front facial part was missing. Since there are a lot of monkeys around, I chucked it into a plastic bag to study when I got home, and Baron and I moved on.

Walking through the village, an older gentleman came strolling toward us with a large yellow dog off leash. The dog was very polite and stayed away from Baron, who was not freaking out, but obviously not thrilled to see this dog. He was giving him those low growls, and mini lunges. The gentleman started talking to me about the shooting, and I discovered that the hunter had shot one of the locals who was out collecting mushrooms. It got worse. The guy who got shot owns the mountain. And worse. The guy doesn't have the use of this left arm from a old accident. The hunter shot him in his right arm. Seriously? Firearm safety is no joke, and yeah accidents happen, but at least know what you're shooting at. In this case his hunting dog was barking at the mushroom collector, and the hunter thought the guy was a boar.

Well we had around an hour and a half before sunset, and needed to cross the mountain to get back to the truck. Taking a different, direct route toward the truck (first time on this ridge), we ended up in a crazy bamboo thicket, 100 meters above the mountain road the truck was parked on. All of a sudden Baron starts to go a bit batty, and moves into the bamboo in search mode. I loaded up, quietly waiting at the edge of the thicket, where pine forest meets bamboo. A minute later, the tell tale thunderous snapping of bamboo as the boar gets up and charges Baron. Baron comes running out, looks up at me, and I whisper 'yoshi' (good or go in Japanese) to him, and he goes back in. I'm right on his tail, and almost immediately I hear the boar coming for us. At around 5 meters away I finally see a large black boar rushing toward us. I line the sights on her, she's coming almost straight at us, and bam, she drops. Baron rushes in at the sound of the gunshot, and runs right past her. Brilliant. He runs a circle, and comes back to where she is, and I put one more round in the head for good measure.

She weighs in at 69kg, a very long, but not extremely fat female. Still, it's sunset, and now I've got to carry her out. It took around 2 hours to get through the bamboo, to the truck, and then exhausted, 20 minutes to get her onto the truck. While I'm doing this, Baron goes back into the mountain in the dark, and starts baying up a boar. He stayed up there for 30 minutes baying, and no amount of calling would get him back down. He and the boar kept moving around, and when they were around 80 meters from the truck, I went up with my Maglite and dragged Baron out.

The next day, I did a half day with two other hunters in an area over run by Muntjac, an introduced species of deer. Baron was all over them and all over the place for the 3 hours we had, though at one point we did find a 40kg boar, but all it did was run as well. Baron was too tired to keep up.

That night I pulled the skull out of truck, comparing it to pictures of the skulls of Japanese Macaques, but it wasn't matching up. Eyebrow formation, and spots where ear and jaw would connect, were wrong. Size was also far too large. The only other animal in Japan with a skull like that is a human. Taking a look at pictures of human skulls, I found a match. Called the cops the next day, and they came to pick it up. We had a blizzard move in which was insane because the day before I had been in a t-shirt. Day 18 of the hunt, my brother and I had a police escort into the mountain as we took them to the spot where I had found the skull.

They took a great deal of pictures, and combed the area. We stayed and helped till noon, then took our leave to hunt. The cops were a bit lost in the marsh, they're definitely not outdoorsy types. It seems that a few years ago there were two separate incidents where old men went into the mountains above the village and were never found. Hopefully the police find out who the remains belong to so their families can have some closure.

My brother, Baron, and I, walked to the ridge opposite, and headed up. Around 20 minutes in, Baron was on track. He kept coming back to get us, as he seems to do a lot nowadays on larger, or feisty boar. We climbed down into a ravine after him, then back up the other side. Another 100 meters and we reached an area overgrown with thin bamboo stalks. You can't see a meter in front of you in this stuff. Baron went through it a few times, but nothing, so we walk through it. On the other side, there was a slope planted with low palms. Every time I see these in the mountains, a little drumroll now plays in my head. The boar love laying up in them, and today, this guy decided to hide out in there. My brother heard Baron's single bark, and as we moved toward the spot, Baron came running out to get us. I whispered 'yoshi' again, and he went back in, and started baying.

I handed my iPhone to my brother to get some video (someone slap me please), and moved closer. Baron got charged, and he ran out the side opposite where we were, then looped back around to me. Another 'yoshi' and he went back, getting charged immediately and then a yelp. Baron came back out with a bloody mouth. Of course my brother missed filming all of this, haha. It seems like Baron couldn't get out of the way fast enough, and he and the boar ended up biting each other head on. Baron was pissed off and kept running in and out looking for the boar, and I was looking for him as well, but it was gone. Baron was bleeding, but wouldn't stop for us to take a look, and he got on the boars track and took off. He went around 600 meters before coming back. By that time the bleeding had stopped, and a look in his mouth showed a little lip and tongue damage. Looked as if though he might have accidentally done the damage to himself. Anyway, Baron's first injury on boar, but it didn't require any medical attention.

We only had 4 hours total to hunt in the afternoon, so we did one more swing around the ridge, found nothing other than this little guy. Looks like a Marten that's not yet in full winter coat. He was really inquisitive, and we kept Baron away from him.

Well that's 10 boar on 18 outings this season for Baron, though I'd rather not be counting these half days.

Available Shikoku Females 2013

These two girls were sired by Daijin out of Imanaka Sou, and their dam is Oushouhime out of Imanaka Sou. They are currently 3 and a half months old.

Next Available Pup (male)

The male is the sesame on the left in the top picture. He was born on the 30th of October, 2012.

Their sire is Shouichi out of Izumo Yano Sou, and dam is Chacha out of Sanuki Nagauchi Sou.

Day 13-15

There's so much going on, I just can't keep up with writing about all of it. If I'm going to bother writing at all, I want it to be a decent read, though every once in a while I'm tempted to go the route of, 'Went to mountain. Baron found boar. I shot boar. We ate boar.'

Anyway, day 13 was January 3rd, first hunt of the year. A friend of mine who also hunts, wanted to tag along, and bring some of his son's friends. They work in a restaurant that has wild game meat on the menu, and were interested in seeing how that meat ends up on the table. I'm always getting requests nowadays to do the guided mountain tour, and I'm usually happy to oblige them, but less happy once we start walking together. Everyone has trouble keeping up, and we probably sound like a marching band moving through the mountain. Baron got on a boar pretty early on, had it bayed for just a little bit, I ran up just as the boar charged him, then wheeled and took off. Baron ran to avoid the charge, and I saw the puzzled look in his face when he turned around and there was no boar left.

Momo, an adult Kishu female I used to own, had a nice trick in her bag where she'd run to avoid the charge, but not in a straight line. She'd run in a circle, always looking back at the boar. As soon as the boar stopped, she'd go back after it.

So this first boar got away, and a second small runner was all we bumped into after that.

The next day, number 14 of the Baron boarfest, I headed out with my brother, pushing further back into the area we've been focusing on this year. This was the first time I've hunted this part of the area, but we found a nice trail to walk. Around 30 minutes in, Baron moved downhill, and I heard the tell tale sound of a boar busting through the undergrowth. This one was a runner as well, and I was a bit pissed because we were just walking above a small hamlet, and the boar was running straight down to it. We ended up having to do a forced run at full speed 1.5km downhill in full gear, only to get to a bamboo thicket above a stream, where we found Baron had lost the boar. It was a hot, long, sweaty march back uphill.

Once back up at the top, we started on our merry way away from civilization, and around 5 minutes in, we could see Baron had picked up scent. We were on a trail, with around 80 meters of slope below us, a bit of underbrush growing up through a thicket of pines. Baron moved slowly and carefully, around 15 meters below us, while we moved quietly, waiting for the inevitable bay. When it came, we experienced a repeat of the boar orchestra. The deafeningly loud sounds of an angry herd of boar is awe inspiring. I moved lower, Baron slightly in front of me, baying the biggest of the bunch.

I stopped 10 meters above and behind him, and suddenly 3 little boar ran up toward me and froze 3 meters away. The boar were all glued on Baron, and absolutely oblivious to me. I asked my brother above me whether he wanted a little one or a big one. He wanted the big one. So, I waited for a shot, trying to line up the large female. The boar charged once, then moved back, trees were in my way. Baron got a bit close, and she came after him, barreling past me, but too close behind Baron to take a safe shot. Baron moved downhill, the sow after him, and he got barreled over, after which the boar decided she'd had enough and made her getaway downhill. Baron chased the boar for a bit, and while my brother and I were planning our move to cut off the herd, he came back.

By this time we assumed all the boar were gone, but Baron moved behind us, uphill around 5 meters, and started baying. My bro thought that he was just reacting to the fresh scent still lingering, but I reloaded, and moved around below Baron. Sure enough, a nice little boar was in some underbrush. I popped off a round, the boar dropped downhill, injured, and Baron caught it. While I wanted to take the second shot, they were moving around a bit much, and since the boar was small I told my brother to grab it. Not so cool since he ended up not grabbing the back legs, he tried to pin the boar down, and Baron adjusting to get hold of the boar better ended up nipping his hand. I have to admit that this kind of happened because I was again trying to break out the camera, doh. Anyway, we got the boar, around 30kg of him.

The next day, day 15, my friend came out again. His bike broke down on his way over, so I hunted with Baron in the morning, going after the herd. We didn't get to them, as we hit deer first. I've never seen deer in this part of the prefecture before, but we found some large beds, prints, markings, and droppings. Of course, Baron then inevitably found something (I assume the deer), gave chase, and ended up 2km downstream. I kept fairly close for just under a km, but then gave up and waited for him to come back. We trudged out of the mountain together to pick up my friend, and together we hunted the rest of the mountain. After around an hour, Baron moved downhill and started running. While I never got a look, following his track later we found a couple mouthfuls of deer fur. Seems Baron got pretty close. At least he came back quickly this time, after around 200 meters.

We were running out of time, so started heading off the path and through some heavy undergrowth on the most direct route to the mountain road we could walk back on. I ended up guiding us into the wrong ravine, but as luck would have it, we were in the right place. Climbing out we had bamboo all up the right slope, but moving past it we found a spot to climb out. Baron moved past us, and into the bamboo we had just walked underneath. I whistled my command to tell him we were going the other way, and while he acknowledged me, he disobeyed and headed into the bamboo. Sure enough seconds later there were fireworks set off in the thicket, with Baron flying off after a fast moving large boar. I heard Baron get charged around 50 meters away, and he came running back to get us. As much as going into the bamboo is a pain, I trusted him, and followed, and moments later Baron wheeled below and behind us to flush a smaller boar. It ran directly toward my friend and I, and we fired at exactly the same moment, and the boar rolled. It was 4pm, and we had our boar. Carrying it out of there was not exactly fun, but that's all part of the hunt. The larger boar was still moving around nearby, but we were out of daylight to go after it.

So that brings us to 9 boar in 15 outings this season.

The Circle of Life

I get into a lot of conversations regarding killing animals, eating them, animal rights/protection, the food chain etc, since I hunt. Opinions can be long and meandering, and many times people don't connect cause and effect.

And then sometimes, stuff like this happens.

NIPPO Kanto Region Exhibitions: Spring 2013

March 10th : Saitama Branch
March 17th : Santama Branch
March 24th : Tochigi Branch
April 7th : Kanagawa Branch
April 14th : Tokyo Branch
April 21st : Ibaragi Branch
April 28th : Chiba Branch

May 12th : All Kanto (Gunma Branch)

Accredited!

Dog Care Manager, JKC accredited, haha. I just needed officially recognized accreditation for some of the work I do.

Registration Numbers: 2012

Made my yearly call to NIPPO HQ about registration numbers for the past year, here's the data.

Akita: 29

Kishu: 705

Shikoku: 297

Hokkaido: 0

Kai: 63

Shiba: 31721

Akita, Hokkaido, and Kai have their own single breed registries so I'm not too concerned about those numbers. 

Shikoku numbers are up!

2009: 357

2010: 370

2011: 233

2012: 297

Okay, so the number is still low... it would be nice to push them back up to at least the Kishu registrations.

To put this all in perspective, here's the Japan Kennel Club registration numbers for 2011 (numbers for 2012 still being tallied).

1. Poodles: 92622

2. Chihuahua: 71163

3. Dachshund: 45430

6. Shiba: 12095

42. Akita: 282

56. Kai: 144

112. Hokkaido: 6

118. Shikoku: 3

Updated Information on Shikoku Female

I've entered 'Riko' into the Shikoku Pedigree database http://www.shikoku-pedigree.com/details.php?id=63373

************ Edited 2013/1/17: Thanks for all your inquiries. Riko has been placed.

France!

At the end of the year I had the opportunity to fly over to France for a few days, first time there, and first time I've been anywhere in Europe as well. I absolutely loved it. The food culture is amazing, I loved the architecture, I made some great friends, and damn Paris is a romantic city.

I took a Kai KKA male pup over, first in France to my knowledge, and 'Ikko' will hopefully help the future of the breed in Europe. His owners are terrific people, and I love the way they know how to live with and train the Nihon Ken. Their first dog is a Shiba, and their dedication to her, and her's to them was evident.

Good luck in France Ikko!

We had dinner at the Eiffel Tower...

visited the Louvre...

My hosts were terrific guides as they took me all around Paris!

the Seine at night...

Cooked up some amazing venison...

and we got to take some great walks along the river near Ikko's new home, and here he is meeting some goats.

I got back into Tokyo a few hours before midnight to ring in the New Year with friends. 2010 was dismal, 2011, better, 2012 rocked my world. I'm excited about 2013!

Available Shikoku Litter 2013

This litter was sired by the winner of the 2012 Prime Minister's Award at the NIPPO National, Iyo no Gakushun. The pups were born 2012/11/25

I managed to accidentally delete my picture of the dam, but she's an aka-goma female with good conformation, bone, and good sized, full, head.

And here are the pups. There are three females available.

#1 Aka-goma, the smallest female, very feminine

#2 Aka-goma, large round head

#3 Kuro-goma, she has a couple white hairs on her neck

Hairs like this usually go away with the puppy coat, but I just wanted to put the picture up.

There are actually only 2 females available since 1 of the 3 will be going to a pet home. The last pup left in the litter will go to this home, but I will need to let the kennel know within the next day or two if I have anyone interested in any of these girls.

The pups all seemed quite friendly, with the large aka-goma being the most outgoing.

Pedigree:

Sire: Iyo no Gakushun 21-1184 http://www.shikoku-pedigree.com/details.php?id=63358

Dam: Hiryuu Sakurahime 19-1228 http://www.shikoku-pedigree.com/details.php?id=63357

Grand Sire: Shungaku 11-752

Grand Dam: Youkoume 16-1737

Grand Sire: Hiryuu 17-782

Grand Dam: Hououme 16-480

GG Sire: 63-2776

GG Dam: 7-2963

GG Sire: 15-656

GG Dam: 13-590

GG Sire: 14-406

GG Dam: 15-520

GG Sire: 15-511

GG Dam: 9-189

Shungaku is the only Izumo Yano Sou registered dog in these pups for 4 generations up.

*************** Edited 2013/1/17: Thanks for all your inquiries. The pups from this litter have all found homes.

Available Shikoku Female

This female was born out of Izumo Yano Sou's Gakushou, and Jiraku Sou's Chouunhime. She was born on 2012/09/18. According to Yano-san she's got a very nice personality as well, and at the moment no visible flaws. I've got quite a few people on my waiting list at the moment, so I'm pretty sure she'll be homed quickly, but feel free to contact me at kato.the.walrus@gmail.com if you are interested.

Sire: Gakushou http://www.shikoku-pedigree.com/details.php?id=63162
Dam: Chouunhime http://www.shikoku-pedigree.com/details.php?id=63367

Showing a Dog at a NIPPO Show

For anyone that's interested in how it goes down...

First off you'll need to be a NIPPO member, and have a NIPPO registered dog (obviously). There's an entry form to fill out in Japanese that is fairly straightforward, basic personal and pedigree information needs to be entered. The form is pretty much the same for regional's and the Grand National, with the requirement to show at the national being that the dog has to have received a 'yuryo' ('A' or 'excellent') evaluation from a judge at a regional. Handlers are allowed, but the vast majority of dogs are shown by their owners.

The main desk usually opens at 8am and this is when youpick up your entry number and a show catalogue. Judging on the day of the show generally begins at 9am. Preparation before entering the ring usually entails a wipe down with a wet cloth and some brushing, but there really isn't much primping going on at a NIPPO show. The idea is to show the dogs as close to their 'natural' state as possible. 

Here are the entry classes:

1. Waka 1 (young dog 1):  

7months - 1year for small type (Shiba Inu)

8months - 1year 2months for medium type (Kai, Hokkaido, Shikoku, Kishu)

10months- 1year 4 months for large type (Akita)
2. Waka 2 (young dog 2): 

1year - 1year 6months for small type

1year 2months - 1year 10months for medium type

1year 4months - 2years
3. Soken (adolescent dog): 

1year 6months - 2year 6months for small type

1year 10months - 2year 10months for medium type

2years - 3years for large type
4. Seiken (adult dog): 

2year 6months and older for small type

2year 10months and older for medium type

3years and older for large type

There are Yochiken (under 4months for small type, under 5months for medium, under 6months for large) and Youken (4-7months small type, 5-8months medium, 6-10months large) classes, but only at regionals. Also, at regionals, all the medium size breeds are shown in the same group.

Of course males/females are shown in their respective groups in rings which are roped off squares. Each ring has it's own judge and junior judge.

Round 1 begins with dogs entering the ring according to their entry numbers. Teeth are checked (every Nihon Ken should have 42!), and the judge starts the 'kotai shinsa' (individual specimen judging). Dog & handler are called to the center of the ring where the judge evaluates the dog's confirmation to the Nihon Ken standard. After he has finished his examination, he will let the handler know that he will now wicket the dog. After wicketing the dog, the judge will motion to one of  the three white markers arranged in a triangle within the ring, and will then judge each animal's movement by having the handler walk the dog from each marker to the next, stopping in front of the judge after the last marker. He takes one last look, entrants bow to the judge, and the next dog is called to the center of the ring.

After all the dogs have been examined, and a break is taken for lunch, round 2 begins. This is the 'hikaku shinsa' (comparison judging). All entrants are brought into the ring, again lined up in numerical order, and the judge slowly moves through the ring comparing the animals. He (there are currently no female NIPPO judges, but we will possibly have one in the near future) will then call a few dogs into the center of the ring. This is the group he judges to be the best dogs in class. After a few more moments, the judge will begin lining up the dogs from 1st place and on down the line. These are temporary placements, as once all the dogs are lined up the judge will take one final look. It is not uncommon for a dog to be dropped a placement or two if the judge feels it is warranted (ie a dog drops tail etc) The judge then takes off his hat and bows, signaling that the placements are final.

At the regional, there are then 'honbusho' awarded which is something akin to best in show. The number of honbusho available at a regional varies according to how many entrants there are. A dog that has won 6 honbusho receives the title of 'kansei ken' (finished dog), like Gonta here, and can then no longer be shown at regionals.

At the NIPPO Grand National held once a year in the middle of November, the best male and female from the Seiken (adult) class compete for best of breed. The Kishu, Shikoku and Shiba Best of Breeds then compete for 1st place in show which is the prime minister's award. 2nd place receives the education minister's award, and 3rd place, the cultural minister's award.

Some extra information: dogs are given evaluations ranging from A - excellent, B - good, C - fair, D - ok, E - disqualified. Most dogs shown at NIPPO regionals today receive the A evaluation. Anything less and the dog is not really worth showing (and cannot be shown at the national).