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My Akita Dog Album (6)
Tamakumo (or Tamagumo) Series (2)
By Mutsuo Okada
Tamakumo's Sire, Arawashi-gou was discussed in the previous issue of the journal. I shall now discuss the bloodline of the dam, Sankatsu-gou (Sanshou-gou). She was a black brindle, with a coat similar to that of Tamakumo's. Photograph 1 was taken on May 1953, in front of the home of Mr. Katsumasa (Touei) Mio (Mitsuo). The effects of distemper can be seen in her weak hips. Sankatsu was raised in a house with the tatami ( straw mats used in Japanese homes ) removed. Mr. Mio took Sankatsu out to the front of his house to enable me to take a photograph of the dog. She was shy. Torou-gou , her littermate, was also a brindle. While in Akita, he was known to the locals as Tarou of Mr. "Kanzume" Takahashi. Tarou was also shy. He would hide and bark at visitors. He overcame this shyness after he was raised inside the house. He went on to win at the Akikyou's Fourth Headquarters Show. Tarou later went to the kennel of Ms. Setsuko Horikawa in Tokyo and also won the highest award at Nippo. Photograph 2 is that of Tarou-go . He was a very large dog.
Please refer to the pedigree in the previous issue of this journal (AW January/February 2005). Araiwa-gou was the sire of Tarou and Sankatsu . Araiwa-gou was placed in the Junyuu (Good) class at the Akiho's Fourteenth Headquarters Show in 1950. Araiwa's sire, Dainidewa , and dam, Iwa-gou , were offspring of Raiden-gou (Dewa x Tamahime). Therefore, as an inbred dog of the Dewa line, Araiwa was a large dog. His offspring, Tarou-gou , was also large. However, his ribs did not have the adequate spread and this gave a flat appearance of his chest. This flat appearance was also seen in Tamakumo-gou and his offspring, especially in his brindles.
Tamakumo-gou was restless in the show ring, and barked whenever another dog came near him. It was difficult to photograph him during such a behavior. Many of Tamakumo's offspring barked with their tails down. This was due to their lack of intelligence. No dogs from the Goroumaru line had such behavior. They posed in the ring like a show dog and stood their ground against any dog that approached them.
An Akita dog with an excellent black brindle coat often had some missing teeth and a deep stop. Flat foreheads were seen more often in white dogs, which resulted in some beautiful features.
Akikyou breeders in Tokyo were more successful with the use of the bloodline of Tanihibiki (although the temperament in some of these dogs were stronger than desired), with other bloodlines by preserving the good points of each bloodline.
After producing Tamakumo , Sankatsu-go was bred to Teruzakura-gou ( Ichinosekigoma x Tamazakura) to producing Teruisami (a red male) with a temperament that differed from his sire. Teruisami was docile when compared to that of his sire, Teruzakura.
Brindles in Tamakumo's pedigree were Shintora of photograph 3, Dainidewa of photograph 4 and Araiwa of photograph 5. Sankatsu probably inherited her brindle coat from these dogs.
Shintora-gou (Jugorou x Toshi) inherited the brindle coat of his first ancestral dog, Tochini-gou and of Ichinoseki-tora-gou. Shintora's dam, Toshi , was also a brindle.
Shintora won the highest award at the Akiko's Twelfth Headquarters Show immediately after the war. He was purchased by Mr. Kaneharu (or Shuuji) Takarada of Osaka. Shintora's ears did not stand until much later and with much assistance.
Dainidewa-gou (Raiden x Wakatorame) came from the Dewa line, a competitor to the Ichinoseki line. He was widely used as a stud dog in the Oudate area immediately after the war. He was later purchased by Mr. Kenjirou Sawabe of the Tokyo's Washington Pet Shop. Dainidewa was widely advertised in Tokyo, but demand for his services as a stud dog was less than expected. At the first Akikyou Headquarters Show, first place went to Oudate-gou, second place went to Dainidewa-gou , and third place to Kongou-gou . Dainidewa would wag his tail, but would not stand properly in the show ring. At one of the Nippo' s show, he was lined next to the famous small dog, Naka-gou of the Akaishisou kennel. Naka-gou jumped on Dainidewa's back. Dainidewa-gou did not move. Tanihibiki-gou or Ouryuu-gou would have knocked Naka-gou off their backs in a moment and taken care of him. Naka-gou's alert and aggressive behavior caught the spectators' eyes, while Akita dog fans upon seeing this were chagrined on that day by the behavior of Dainide-wa .
Such shy behavior was also seen in the littermates, Sankatsu and Tarou . Shyness was not limited to these two dogs. The prewar Nippo Bulletin has reports of many shy Akita dogs with droopy tails that refused to enter the show ring. Such shy Akita dogs would not be used for breeding.
Tamakumo probably inherited his excellent coat from his sire, Arawashi . When compared to the coats of his ancestral dogs, the coat length of Tamakumo with the two layer bristle and soft coat were adequate. However, Tamakumo also produced many dogs with the long coat. I also believe his joint angulations were deeper than acceptable. Since the jeweler ( Mr. Tadamoto ) and his wife had no children, they loved Tamakumo as if he were their only child. The let Tamakumo into their living room whenever people came to admire him.
Members of the Jouhoku Branch met at the home of the jeweler. Mr. Tamejirou Ishibashi often stayed there during his younger days, whenever he was in Tokyo more than a week.
Tamakumo began to show his age by the time he was ten years old. His black brindle coat began to turn dark grey. He seemed smaller during his retirement years.
Tamakumo died at about the same time with Mr. Tadamoto's passing. In spite of a beginning with a junyuu (Good) grade at the Nippo show, Tamakumo became one of the outstanding Akita dogs toward the end of his life, due to the affection and care showered on him by the Tadamotos.
Reference: Aiken Journal 273:64-66 (July) 1982, Shin-Journal-sha, Tokyo, Japan.
Translator's comments: bold print and underlined words were added by the translator.
Translated by Tatsuo Kimura with permission from Mr. Mutsuo Okada.
