Photo of Shibuya’s Iconic Dog Hachiko Giving Paw Found; Picture Is One of Four Discovered in the Past Year

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:09 JST, September 19, 2024

A photo has been found of Hachiko, the famous Akita dog whose statue sits in front of Shibuya Station, raising his paw for a human.

An expert says this is “the only material showing that Hachiko understood how to offer a paw,” as Hachiko’s owner is said to have taught his dog no tricks. An enlarged version of the photo will be on display at the Shibuya Folk and Literary Shirane Memorial Museum until Oct. 1.

The photo was donated to the museum in February by Kenji Gomi, 91, from Akiruno, Tokyo. The photo appears to show station worker Kasaburo Gomi, Kenji’s father, feeding Hachiko in front of the station.

According to Keita Matsui, 56, an official at the museum who knows a lot about Hachiko, the photo is estimated to have been taken in either December 1933 and January 1934, based on information such as when Kasaburo worked at the station.

Hachiko’s owner, Hidesaburo Ueno, a professor in the department of agriculture at the University of Tokyo, is believed not to have taught Hachiko any tricks because he believed that would cause the dog to have a “vulgar spirit.” For that reason, there have been no other documents so far showing Hachiko offering his paw.

Usually, dogs offer their paw from a seated position, but this photo shows Hachiko doing it while standing. “Hachiko interacted with a lot of people at Shibuya Station [after Ueno died], so they might have taught him some tricks. Since it wasn’t part of obedience training, I think Hachiko may have been only able to give a paw in an incomplete manner,” Matsui theorized.

The enlarged photo is being specially exhibited at the museum. Admission is ¥100 per person. The museum is closed on Mondays or the following Tuesday if Monday is a national holiday.

New photos of Hachiko

Several new photos of Hachiko have been found since last year as a result of extra attention drawn to the dog due to surveys and events conducted to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth. The museum expects more photos of him to be “unearthed” in the future.

Last autumn, the museum held a special exhibition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Hachiko’s birth, featuring two photos of the dog that were donated to the museum specifically for that purpose. They are frontal and profile photos of Hachiko that were taken in succession. An investigation by the museum determined these valuable photos belonged to the late owner of a photo studio in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture.

Additionally, a man from Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, offered the museum a photo taken by his father posing with the real Hachiko in front of the Hachiko statue during a trip to Tokyo.

The latest photo, of Hachiko giving his paw, was donated to the museum after media reported the 100th anniversary of his birth last year.

According to the museum, around 80 confirmed photos of Hachiko have been found to date, but it is rare to find four new ones in such a short period of time. When Hachiko was alive, cameras were not as widespread as they are now, and people only took pictures of things they thought very important, according to the museum.

“That so many photos of Hachiko remain today is proof that this dog has been loved over generations. We hope people will contact us if they find photos of him, no matter how blurry they are,” a museum official said.