Day 2 of my post a day challenge, continuing with the same Kishu book.
Ken
Sachi
Miyama
Tetsu
And the famous Nachi no Ichi Go
Dai
Hachi
Maru
Not sure how this one's name is supposed to read since there's quite a few readings for this kanji. He's a good example of the difference between the 'shishigata' (boar type) and 'shikagata' (deer type) in the Japanese hunting breeds.
It's always a challenge to keep up with regular blogging. It takes a back burner to everything else going on, and when you've got an inbox with emails from October that still haven't been replied to... Apologies to everyone waiting for replies, but I have to triage everything.
Anyway, I've got a lot of material to post. I've spent years collecting and scanning old books about the Nihon Ken, with the goal of putting it online. So, here goes. I just woke up this beautiful January morning, highs of 18 degrees celcius expected, and I hope to get in a surf. But before that, I realized even when I'm extremely busy, I should be able to put a few random scans online. I'm going to see if I can throw up one post a day, at least for a while. To start with...
This is an old book titled 'Kishu Ken'. Out of print obviously. Anyway, going to just throw up some of the pages with pictures on them, famous dogs, good examples of the breed etc.
Well show season is just around the corner, and since I've received a lot of email asking me for dates and locations, here's the link to the NIPPO page with the info.
Happy New Year! 2017 just kind of snuck up and started. That's how I feel anyway. Very excited to get on with another year though, and itching to move forward with a lot of cabin and dog related projects.
I started writing this post the other day because I receive inquiries from people looking for Tosa Inu rather frequently, and as always it's very time consuming to answer each one individually. So, here (finally) is a post about the breed's current state in Japan.
As I'm sure everyone knows, the Tosa Inu is a fighting breed. It's origins are in the local dogs of Shikoku island (the modern day Shikoku Ken), and many foreign breeds were added to the mix.
What most people are not aware of is the fact that dog fighting is still legal in Japan, and the Tosa is still fought. For the most part, the breed is bred to fight, and while today there are a few people who are starting to breed Tosa that are not involved in the fighting world, they are a tiny minority.
Another fact that most are unaware of is that generally Tosa in Japan do not have pedigrees. The Japan Kennel Club recognizes the breed, and as with all breeds recognizes one breed club. The club that is recognized by the JKC is affiliated with the (now defunct) Tosa Center in Shikoku, and they are the only club that can issue pedigrees. Generally the only dogs that have been issued pedigrees were for dogs that were sold overseas. The Kennel Club of Japan recently recognized the breed, and has an open studbook at the moment. However the KCJ is not FCI recognized.
Lastly, while the Tosa is considered an extremely large breed overseas, in Japan it is fought in an MMA style, with different weight classes. So Tosa in Japan generally range from 30kg upward to the 80kg plus size (that everyone overseas wants). It is a fighting breed, bred to fight, without a standard, and without a breed registry. With no registry, and no oversight, other fighting breeds are added to the 'Tosa' (whether breeders will admit to it or not is another matter).
There are many other things I could add to this, but for now I think this will suffice. The JKC club for Tosa has been inactive for some time, but I heard toward the end of last year that they are back in action. Hopefully this will lead to some direction for the breed that doesn't involved fighting. I am not interested in, and do not condone dog fighting. I currently own a 2 year old Tosa female, and a 1 year old Tosa/Pit/Corso/Mastiff.
