Hachikō, The Japanese Dog Who Never Stopped Waiting For His Owner To Come Home
Wikimedia CommonsA photo of Hachikō, one of Japan’s most famous dogs.
Like Greyfriars Bobby, Hachikō the dog became famous for his loyalty. For 10 years, he waited at the Shibuya train station in Tokyo, Japan, for his owner to come home.
Born in November 1923 in the city of Ōdate, Hachikō was sent by train to his new owner in Tokyo, Hidesaburō Ueno, an agricultural professor who’d been on the lookout for an Akita puppy. The revered Japanese dogs are known for their intelligence, bravery, obedience, and stubbornness. But it wasn’t initially clear if Ueno would get to see Hachikō’s personality — the puppy arrived at his home close to death.
Ueno and his wife nursed the sickly pup back to health, and Hachikō started accompanying Ueno to the train station every morning alongside two other dogs. The three would spend the day near the station, waiting for Ueno to finish work and come home. But in May 1925, Ueno suddenly died of a cerebral hemorrhage when he was just 53 years old.
Though Ueno would never come home again, Hachikō continued to go to the train station every day. Waiting at the ticket gate, he would examine the faces of the passengers as they pushed by as if he were searching the crowd for his lost owner.
At first, many at the train station saw Hachikō as a nuisance. But as his story spread, people began to fall in love with the loyal dog. They sent food to the train station, wrote poems about him, and flocked to Tokyo to catch a glimpse of Hachikō as he waited for Ueno.
CPA Media Pte Ltd/Alamy Stock PhotoAs Hachikō’s story spread, people flocked from all over to see the loyal dog.
There was even a statue erected of Hachikō, and his death in 1935 was reported on the front pages of many newspapers. At that point, Hachikō was cremated. His ashes were placed next to Ueno’s grave in Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo, finally reuniting the dog with his master.
Though Hachikō’s statue was torn down during World War II for its materials, a new monument was erected in 1948 at Shibuya Station. Today, the entrance nearest the statue is also an homage to Hachikō and is called Hachikō-guchi, or the Hachikō entrance and exit.
