The Emotional Story of Hachiko, the ‘World’s Most Loyal Dog’ Whose Centenary is Commemorated This Year

The Chinese slogan on the movie poster says it all: “I will wait for you, however long it takes.”.

It tells the true story of Hachiko, the faithful dog who waited for his master at a train station in Japan long after the man’s death.

The creamy white Akita Inu, who was born almost 100 years ago is remembered in every way.

From books and movies to the sci-fi cartoon series Futurama.

And the Chinese film screened in the country today, the third after a 1987 Japanese version and the one starring Richard Gere in 2009, it’s a blockbuster.

There are stories of other devoted dogs like Greyfriars Bobby, but none with Hachiko’s global impact.

There is even a bronze statue of him outside Shibuya Station in Tokyo, where he waited in vain for a decade for his owner.

The statue was first erected in 1934 before being recycled for warfare during World War II.

Japanese schoolchildren learn the history of Chuken Hachikoor the faithful dog Hachiko, as an example of devotion and loyalty.

Hachiko represents the “ideal Japanese citizen” with his “unquestioning devotion,” says University of Hawaii Professor Christine Yano: “loyal, reliable, obedient to an owner and who understands his place in the bigger picture without relying on rationality to do so.

Hachiko’s story

Hachiko was born in November 1923 in the city of Odate in Akita Prefecture, the original home of the Akita dog breed.

The Akita is a large Japanese dog and one of the oldest and most popular breeds in the country.

Designated by the Japanese government as national icon in 1931they were once trained to hunt animals such as wild boar and moose.

“Akita dogs are calm, sincere, intelligent and courageous. Also obedient to their masters,” says Eietsu Sakuraba, author of an English children’s book about Hachiko.

“They also have one stubborn personality and they distrust anyone who is not their owner.

The year Hachiko was born, Hidesaburo Ueno, a well-known agricultural professor and dog lover, asked a student to find him an Akita puppy.

After a tiring train ride, the cub arrived at the Ueno residence in the Shibuya district on January 15, 1924.

At first he was thought to be dead.

According to Hachiko’s biographer, Professor Mayumi Itoh, Ueno and his wife Yae they nursed him back to health within the next six months.

Ueno called it Hachi, Japanese for ‘eight’. The Ko suffix is ​​a tribute from the students of Ueno.

the long wait

Ueno took the train to work several times a week.

He was accompanied to Shibuya station by his three dogs, including Hachiko, who would stay there until his return at night.

On May 21, 1925, Ueno, then 53, died of a cerebral hemorrhage..

Hachiko was only with him for 16 months.

“While people were attending the vigil, Hachi smelled his owner from inside the house and entered the living room. He crawled under the coffin and refused to move,” writes Professor Itoh.

Hachiko spent the next few months living with various families outside of Shibuya, but finally ended up with Ueno’s gardener, Kobayashi Kikusaburo, in the summer of 1925.

Returned to the area where his late master lived, Hachiko soon resumed his daily commute to the station. It didn’t matter if it was sunny or if it rained all the way to the sea.

At night, Hachi stood at the entrance gate and watched every passenger like I was looking for someoneItoh writes.

The station employees initially found it a nuisance. Yakitori vendors threw water at him and small children bullied and beat him.

However, after the Japanese newspaper Tokyo Asahi Shimbun wrote about him in October 1932Hachi received national attention.

The station received food donations for Hachiko every day, as tourists came from far and wide to see it.

Poems and haiku were written about him.

According to the news, the 1934 event would raise money and dedicate a statue to him it drew a crowd of 3,000 people.

Hachiko’s death on March 8, 1935 made the front page of many newspapers.

at his funeral, Buddhist monks prayed for him and several authorities and dignitaries read praise.

Thousands of people visited his statue in the days that followed.

In impoverished post-war Japan, a fundraiser for a new statue of Hachiko even raised 800,000 yen, a huge amount at the time.

would be equal to US$28 million today.

“In hindsight I think he knew Ueno wasn’t coming back, but he kept waiting. hachiko taught us the importance of keeping the faith on someone,” Takeshi Okamoto wrote in a 1982 newspaper article.

When he was in high school, he used to see Hachiko every day at the station.

In memory of Hachiko

A memorial service for Hachiko is held outside Shibuya Station on April 8 every year.

His image is often decorated with scarves, Christmas hats and more recently a surgical mask.

His mount is on display at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo.

Some of his remains are buried in Aoyama Cemetery along with Ueno and Yae.

Statues of him have also been cast in Ueno’s hometown of Odate, Hisai, the University of Tokyo and Rhode Island, the US setting for the 2009 film.

Odate also has a range of events planned this year when he would be 100 years old.

Will the most loyal dog in the world be celebrated in a century?

Professor Yano says yes because she believes it the “heroism of Hachiko” it is not defined by a particular period, rather it is timeless.

Sakuraba is equally optimistic. “Even in 100 years, this unconditional and devoted love will remain unchanged, and Hachiko’s story will live forever.”