犬の品種の単語 - Dog’s breeds

Since we started to tackle the subject of animals, I thought to myself that we were going to continue with the breeds of dogs.

Today, therefore, you will have a list of 33 vocabulary words, many are in Katakana because they are words from the English language. You will also have some words with kanji. For now, learn them as they are, we’ll see how kanji work very soon.

Let’s get started without further ado.

ペット . the domestic animals, the pets
コンパニオンドッグ . the companion dog
飼い犬 / 飼犬 . かいいぬ . the domestic dog, the companion dog
ラブラドール . the labrador
チワワ . the chihuahua (from spanish)
プードル . the poodle
セント・バーナード . the St. Bernard
オーストラリアン・シェパード . the australian shepherd
ジャーマン・シェパード・ドッグ . the german shepherd
ブルドッグ . the bulldog
ブル・テリア . the bull terrier
ビーグル . the beagle
ゴールデン・レトリバー . the golden retriever
ダルメシアン . the dalmatian
ドーベルマン . the doberman
イングリッシュ・ポインター . the english pointer
イングリッシュ・セター . the english setter
ダックスフン . the dachshund (from german)
サモエド . the samoyed
カナディアン・エスキモー・ドッグ . the canadian eskimo dog
アメリカン・エスキモー・ドッグ . the american eskimo dog
シベリアン・ハスキー . the siberian husky
アラスカン・ハスキー . the alaskan husky
アラスカン・クリー・カイ . the alaskan klee kai
カレリアン・ベア・ドッグ . the Karelian bear dog
フィニッシュ・スピッツ . the finnish spitz
フレンチ・スパニエル . the french spaniel
ブリタニー・スパニエル . the brittany spaniel
アイリッシュ・ウォーター・スパニエル . the irish water spaniel
チベタン・スパニエル . the tibetan spaniel
チャウ・チャウ . the chow chow
柴犬 . しばいぬ . the shiba
秋田犬 . あきたいぬ . the akita

Here ends a vocabulary course. It was not very long and rather easy, but you can imagine that we will cover a little more complex words next time.

Just so you know, in Japanese 柴犬 can mean "little dog". The kanji 柴 can translate to "brush" or "small wood", it also meant "small" in ancient Japanese. Which leads to believe that the Shiba was named with in mind either that the dog was used for hunting in wild shrubs, or because the most common color of the Shiba was similar to that of dried grass. The word "grass" is also pronounced しば in Japanese and is written with this kanji, 芝.

However, the kanji 柴 is very rare in the Japanese language, it is not found in many words. The Shiba is originally a small game and bird hunting dog. There are also only three very distinct shiba breeds : the Shinshu Shiba, the Mino Shiba and the San’in Shiba. I’m writing them in Roman letters for now because we haven’t seen a lot of kanji yet. The word "shiba" has been used in English to designate this typically Japanese breed of dog but the full name in Japanese is 柴犬 . しばいぬ. A Japanese, when he wants to talk about a Shiba, will always say 柴犬 . しばいぬ.

Finally, a final note on the word 飼い犬 / 飼犬 where you have a hiragana right in the middle. It sometimes happens to have hiragana in the middle of a Japanese kanji word, we will see what it is about in the next part very soon. For now, learn this word and all the others.

Initially used as a hunting dog, this Japanese dog was declared a national monument by Emperor Hirohito in 1931. The akita has its origins in the homonymous prefecture of Akita, in the city of Ōdate (大館市, Ōdate-shi).

Among all typical Japanese dog breeds, the akita was made famous by Hachikō (ハチ公), an akita who became the epitome of loyalty. Hachikō is famous in Japan for having waited daily for nearly ten years for his master at Shibuya station after his death. This is why it is nicknamed Chūken (忠犬, « Faithful dog »). A statue erected in his honor at Shibuya Station, opposite the Shibuya crossroads, is now a well-known meeting place in Tokyo. Hachikō’s story is also behind the renewed interest in the Akita race, then almost extinct.

Hachikō is now part of popular culture. Two films tell his story, the most recent of which is Hatchi (2008) by Lasse Hallström, a Swedish director, screenwriter and producer. In literature, comics, manga, cartoons, video games, many references are made to Hachikō.

In 2003, the Shibuya district created new minibus routes, which were nicknamed « Hachiko bus » (ハチ公バス . ハチコウバス).

Thank you for reading this course to the end. Reread the lesson, practice writing and speaking, learn to plot all those new kanji, practice plotting your katakana and hiragana, and every once in a while, review previous lessons.

You have reached the end of this part on the katakana. From the next lesson, you will start a new part on the study of kanji. You already know some of them with these vocabulary courses and it is high time to dig deeper into the subject.