Unwavering Loyalty

Back in 1924, there was a Japanese gentleman who lived in Tokyo named Hidesabura Ueno. He worked as a professor in the agriculture department at the University of Tokyo. One day he brought to his house a pure breed Akita dog named Hachiko.

Hachiko seemed very close to his owner because he always waited for him at the front door of their house when Mr. Ueno is leaving for work. At the end of the day, Hachiko would wait for his owner to return from work at the nearby Shibuya train station.

The pair continued this routine until one day in May 1925. While giving a lecture in a class at the University, Mr. Ueno suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died. His relatives buried Mr. Ueno at a cemetery at Minami-Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo.

Unaware of his master’s demise, Hachiko waited at the Shibuya train station. Hachiko continually waited everyday for his dead master’s return for the next nine years. It is an amazing sight to see Hachiko appear at the station precisely when the train is due to arrive.

Hachiko was given away after his master’s death but he would routinely escape, showing up time and again at his old master’s house. Eventually, Hachiko realized that his master does not live at the old house anymore and so he waited for him everyday at the Shibuya train station hoping for his return.

Hachiko presence at the Shibuya station became a permanent sight to the people who ride the train. Some commuters, who have seen Hachiko and his master at the station before, brought food to Hachiko to nourish him during his wait.

One of Mr. Ueno’s student, who happened to be an expert on the Akita breed dogs, saw Hachiko at the station and followed him back to a house owned by the Kobayashi family. Mr. Kikuzaboro Kobayashi was the former gardener of Mr. Ueno. During his brief visit to the Kobayashi residence, the student was able to learn about Hachiko’s life. The student did a research on the number of Akitas and found that there are only 30 remaining pure bred Akita dogs and one of them is Hachiko.

Over the years, the student visited Hachiko and he eventually wrote several articles about the remarkable loyalty of Hachiko. In 1932, one of the articles was published in Tokyo’s largest newspaper which transformed Hachiko into a national sensation. His faithfulness to his master's memory impressed the people of Japan as a spirit of family loyalty all should strive to achieve. Teachers and parents used Hachiko’s vigil as an example for children to follow. A well-known Japanese artist rendered a sculpture of the dog, and throughout the country a new awareness of the Akita breed grew.

Hachiko died on March 8, 1935. He was found on a street in Shibuya. His heart was infected with filarial worms and 3-4 yakitori sticks were found in his stomach. His stuffed and mounted remains are kept at the National Science Museum of Japan in Ueno, Tokyo.