History of Hachiko: biography, legend and curiosities –

Can a dog become an essential character in the story? You will verify that yes with the History of Hachiko: biography, legend and curiosities of this historic dog.

Hachikō Biography

Hachiko is an icon in Japan, a sign of the love and loyalty that an animal can give us human beings. Books have been written about him and he’s starred in blockbuster movies, but do you know the hachiko true story? We tell you his biography and also the legend that surrounds him. If this character is not yet very well known to you, we advise you to have a pack of handkerchiefs at hand, because you may shed some tears with the beautiful legend of him and when you know the noble heart of this Japanese dog.

Hachiko was born on a farm in Akita Prefecture, in Odate, Japan. According to the data, a university professor named Hidesaburo Ueno had just lost his dog, and the family decided to adopt a new animal. The dog arrived in a box at Shibuya station and, when he did, he was malnourished and sick, so much so that they thought he was going to die. He loved her, he took care of him giving him milk and lots of pampering and, because the animal’s legs were a little off, he called him Hachi, a word that in Japanese refers to the number 8.

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At first, it was the professor’s daughter who loved the dog but she soon left home, becoming pregnant and starting a life with her husband. Then the teacher considered what to do with the animal, but finally, she had grown so fond of him that she decided to let him live with him. And it is as a result of this that a relationship of friendship and loyalty is forged without conditions that has crossed borders and decades, making writers and screenwriters fall in love.

Legend of Hachikō

In 1923, a professor of agricultural engineering at the University of Tokyo decides to find a dog to keep him company. Hidesaburo Ueno was not willing to settle for just any dog, because he wanted one that lived up to his intelligence, a four-legged companion that would take away a bit of the loneliness that a studious person like him felt, always between books and experiments. He was clear that he wanted a dog with certain qualities, such as an autonomous character, an intelligent and brave dog. Characteristics all of them very typical of a specific breed of great popularity among the ancient Japanese emperors, the akita breed dog. However, in those decades this kind of dog was not very abundant so it was difficult for him to find it. But as the saying goes, good things take time, and the wait was worth it.

Finally, the teacher managed to find his Akita puppy in the city of Odate and adopt him. As expected, dog and master immediately became inseparable, to such an extent that Hachi would wait for his master every day to the train station to meet him when he came home from work. They spent two very close and happy years until, unfortunately, the teacher dies suddenly from a stroke, while he is teaching at the University.

Hachiko stayed waiting for his owner who never came. And Ueno’s wife had no resources to take care of the animal, so she decided to give it to her gardener with the idea that the animal would receive the attention it deserved. However, Hachi had other plans and was not willing to change his routine or abandon his loyal master, but every day continued to go to the train station to wait for the teacher. He did this every day for 10 long years.

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They say that the animal had a serious and sad face, so much so that there were even people who were afraid of him, but despite everything, he did not cease in his hope of meeting his human friend, the man who had welcomed him when he was just a boy. cub and with whom he had lived for his first two years.

And one day, a journalist and student were attracted by the presence of the animal at the station, so they decided to follow him to his house, the new home that Hachi shared with his master’s gardener, and it was he who told him the story of the animal. most faithful dog From that moment on, stories about him and Hachiko became a famous dogan example of friendship until death.

The animal died in 1935 due to terminal cancer, and his body was buried next to his master’s.

Hachiko in movies and books

Hachiko has had his space in numerous japanese cartoon series. But she has also been a protagonist in quite recent books and movies. Among them it is necessary to highlight “Always by your side”a work that has gone from literature to cinema, starring on the big screen in the person of Richard Gere in the role of Professor Ueno, or in this case, Parker Wilson.

In the fictional version, the professor finds the dog abandoned at the station and it is here that he decides to take him home to give him a chance to have a comfortable home and himself, an unbeatable company.

Hachiko Curiosities

Some interesting facts about Hachiko is that six dogs were used on the big screen to play Hachi in the movie Always by your side. A blockbuster film that, despite not being a cinematographic masterpiece, managed to get viewers and critics into their pockets with such an endearing story.

Another curiosity that we find, in this case, diving in the Hashiko’s story, is that there is another version of his legend. A not so romantic version, we do not know if it is true or not, for which the real reason that the animal came every day to wait for its master was not simply out of loyalty, but because it acquired this habit as a way of obtaining a reward. , and it is that supposedly, when returning from work, the teacher gave Hachi a candy. Apparently, the first time the dog went to meet him at the station, Ueno was returning from a long trip and, excited by the animal’s welcome, he gave him a Japanese chicken skewer, a yakitori. This succulent appetizer liked the dog so much that it became a habit between dog and owner. Will this be true? We don’t know if this is the case or not, but Hachi’s case is not the only one of an animal that receives and waits for its master every day even after death.

Hachiko has a statue in his honor at Shibuya station. The monument was erected a year before his death.

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