2023-11-10 16:00 Lianhe News Network 24 hours around the corner “Although we can’t meet each other, thanks to you, we can meet each other now.” Japan’s famous true dog story-the loyal dog eight…
100th Anniversary of the Birth of Hachiko: In front of Shibuya Station, the story of the world’s most famous Akita dog
“Although we can’t meet each other, thanks to you, we can meet each other now.” Japan’s famous true dog story——Hachikō——This year, November 10, 2023, is the 100th anniversary of Hachiko’s birth. Akita Inu Hachiko was born in 1923 and was raised by Professor Ueno Eisaburo of Tokyo Imperial University. After Professor Ueno passed away suddenly due to illness, Hachiko would go to Shibuya Station every day to wait for his owner to return home. The story of loyalty has become a good talk among Shibuya residents. A bronze statue was also built for Hachigong. The spread of the story of Hachiko is not only the touching friendship between humans and dogs, but also related to the social atmosphere of wartime Japan that emphasized loyalty and self-cultivation. After a hundred years, the bronze statue of Hachiko is still at Shibuya Station, serving as a guardian of people’s daily life and local culture. symbol.
Akita Inu Hachiko was born in a farm family in Odate City, Akita Prefecture, on November 10, 1923 (the 12th year of Taisho in Japan).When he was about 2 months old, the little puppy was put in a rice bowl and sent by train from Akita to Tokyo – then a professor of agriculture at Tokyo Imperial UniversityHidesaburo Uenowere looking for an Akita dog. Professor Ueno’s student Seise Chiyomatsu happened to work at the Akita Prefectural Office. In order to repay his teacher’s kindness, after learning that the teacher had a wish to raise a dog, he found this puppy from Odate City and gave it to him. .
Because he was the eighth at birth, Ueno Eisaburo was so happy to get the puppy that he named it Hachi. Ueno and his wife Yaeko Sakano took good care of Hachi as he grew up.
Eisaburo Ueno was 52 years old when he adopted Kohachi. He was already a well-known expert in agriculture, civil engineering, and agricultural engineering in Japan. Hachiko was born in November 1923, shortly after the tragic Great Kanto Earthquake. Ueno Eisaburo served as one of the important members of the imperial capital reconstruction and revival project after the earthquake. In addition to teaching at Tokyo Imperial University, he also had to Traveling around on business.
As Hachiko grew up, his daily routine was to go to Shibuya Station at that time to welcome Professor Ueno home. Ueno himself is a dog lover, and since he raised Hachiko from a young age, he has a very close relationship. The habit of greeting his owner at the station every day has become the most heartwarming scene in Professor Ueno’s life after finishing a day’s work.
“Statue of Hachiko and Eisaburo Ueno” located at Todai University.Picture/Agriculture Archives of the University of Tokyo
But impermanence breaks this scene. On May 21, 1925, Eisaburo Ueno, who was in school, suffered an acute cerebral hemorrhage in the lecture hall and died suddenly. On this day, Hachiko did not see Professor Ueno in his usual coat and gentleman’s hat at Shibuya Station. Their time together was only a short one year and five months.
The sudden death of Professor Ueno also caused his wife Yaeko’s life to lose focus. She left her original rental residence and lived in the homes of relatives and friends. At the same time, because she could not independently raise a large dog like Hachiko, she had to entrust relatives to raise her on her behalf. However, because the Ueno couple took great care of their students in the past, when they learned that something had happened to their mentor’s family, the students worked together to send their mentor’s wife to live in a house in Setagaya, Tokyo, and Hachiko was able to reunite with his family.
However, after that, Hachiko often went out on his own and disappeared. There were also cases where nearby farmers found Hachiko breaking into fields or getting injured in fights with wild dogs, which made Yaeko quite worried. Later, someone informed Yaeko that Hachiko was found repeatedly appearing at Shibuya Station. Such a sight made Yaeko immediately think that Hachiko must be waiting for his master who has not returned at the station.
Hachiko always greets his master Ueno Eisaburo at the station, which must be an unforgettable happy memory for his widow Yaeko. However, considering that Hachiko’s journey from Setagaya to Shibuya was quite long, Yaeko later entrusted Hachiko to Kikusaburo Kobayashi, a tree planter who was familiar with the Uenos and his wife and lived in Shibuya. Close, so that Hachiko can be relatively relaxed.
“In front of Shibuya Station, there is always an Akita dog waiting…” Hachiko’s behavior gradually became known to the locals. He loyally waited for his master who was unlikely to come back, and the story slowly became a favorite in Shibuya. However, the popularity of the story of Hachiko actually did not come until 1932, when Hachiko was 9 years old. At that time, Saito Hiroshichi, a Japanese dog researcher, accidentally learned about Hachiko’s story while conducting field research on Japanese dogs. In 1932, he wrote an article and published it in the “Asahi Shimbun” titled “The Lovely Old Man” “Dog Story” (Old Dog Story), with the subtitle “Still waiting for the return of the master who is no longer alive”. Because of this story, Hachiko’s reputation became widely known, and since then there has been “Hachiko the Loyal Dog” title.
Unexpectedly, the results of the “Asahi Shimbun” report were so great that the residents of Shibuya came up with the idea of building a bronze statue of Hachiko. In January 1934, two years after the report, the bronze statue of Hachiko was installed in Shibuya. The station was set up, and Hachiko, who was 11 years old at the time, was brought to the site to take a photo with his bronze statue.
Although Hachiko is already a senior dog, “going to Shibuya Station and waiting” is still Hachiko’s daily routine. After the bronze statue was established, many people passing by would come here to visit Hachiko, who was resting near the statue, or bring food. Some Japanese tourists at that time even made a special pilgrimage here. Hachiko’s reputation spread back to his hometown of Odate City, Akita Prefecture, and the local government decided to erect a bronze statue of Hachiko in 1935 to commend this loyal and good dog.
Unfortunately, the health of the old dog Hachiko was gradually declining. On March 8, 1935, Hachiko was found lying near Shibuya Station. He was 12 years old when he died. Hachiko’s death immediately became a topic of news reports, and local people came to mourn and pray for Hachiko on his last journey.
On the day Hachiko died, people gathered around his body to mourn. Photo/Wikimedia Commons On the anniversary of Hachiko’s death, people came to the bronze statue to pay their respects.Picture/Wikimedia Commons
The reason why the story of the loyal dog Hachiko is widely circulated is that, in addition to the spiritual and moving friendship between his beloved dog, Japanese society entered the war period after 1934, and such “loyalty” stories were more likely to be told, emphasizing repayment and loyalty. The text is often used as material for national self-cultivation under the military system. The story of Hachiko also entered the hearts of many people under this background.
However, the bronze statue of Hachiko we see today is actually not the original version of that year. As the situation in World War II worsened and Japan’s military state went berserk, a “metal recycling movement” emerged in order to concentrate military supplies. A large number of metal products were collected from the private sector and converted into national supplies. At that time, the bronze statue of Hachiko was also confiscated. After hearing about this incident, Kokichi Saito immediately protested to the authorities, hoping to preserve the bronze statue of Hachiko on the grounds of its artistic value, and he also handed over approximately the same amount of copper in exchange. Although the bronze statue was saved for a while and was first removed and then moved elsewhere for safekeeping, it was eventually melted down by the Ministry of Railways in 1945 and used as materials for railway trains.
Until the end of the war, many people in Shibuya still missed Hachiko and were determined to put the bronze statue back. In 1948, the “Hachiko Bronze Statue Reconstruction Committee” was established. In August of the same year, the second-generation Hachiko bronze statue was officially built. Still sitting firmly in front of Shibuya Station, it has become one of the most famous landmarks in Shibuya from the Showa, Heisei, and Reiwa eras, and it is also the most accustomed daily meeting point for people coming and going.
After Hachiko died, he was buried in Aoyama, Tokyo, next to Eisaburo Ueno’s grave. In 2016, Yaeko was also moved and buried here. In addition to Shibuya Station, there is an existing bronze statue of Hachiko in Odate City, Akita Prefecture, Hachiko’s hometown. There is also one in front of the Agricultural Science Museum at Tokyo Imperial University where Professor Ueno taught in the past, which is now the University of Tokyo. The special thing about the bronze statue is that the scene is made of Professor Ueno and Hachiko meeting each other. Ueno’s hometown, Mie Prefecture, also has a bronze statue that interacts with Hachiko.
Now, 100 years after the birth of Hachiko, various commemorative activities have been held in Tokyo and Akita Prefecture. One of the giant posters was posted at Shibuya Station with a historical photo of Hachiko and the words next to it:
“Although we can’t meet each other, thanks to you, we can meet each other now.”
(Thanks to you who we couldn’t meet, we can meet now.)
The ones who couldn’t meet each other back then were Hachiko and Ueno Eisaburo. However, people in later generations can meet each other here in front of the bronze statue of Hachiko – a hundred years later, the Hachiko who used to wait for his master has become a daily guardian.
After Hachiko’s death, he was dissected and made into a specimen by Tokyo Imperial University. The picture shows the Hachiko specimen currently in the National Science Museum of Japan…
Text/Lin Qihao
japanese culture behind the camera
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2023-11-10 08:00:50
