Awesome picture K9 Hinomaru and Nobori.

[Staldion]

Have you seen this picture?





I think it is the nicest I have ever seen about Hinomaru and Nobori.
I was aware of civilians giving their dog to the army, but not of such ceremony with personalized items like this. It is like they was sending a son on the front.

I find this picture really amaizing so I would like to share it with you. Unfortunatly I am not the owner, I hope it is okay. I will remove the picture if asked to do so.

Can you translate the name of the dog? I am curious to know it.

Here is a good article on the story of Maj. Itakura and his 3 german shepperds in Kwantung army. Their story was embellished to serve the purpose of the propaganda encouraging the children to do their part in the war effort by taking exemple of the sacrifice of the dogs and by giving their pets to serve or to be used in the army.

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/22927a219235

Best,
Mathieu.

[MikeB]

Awesome pictures

That is a very nice photo and as you mention, rare. I have seen very few images of war dogs being posed with their good luck flags and/or off to war banners. When I get the chance to purchase these images (most offered at auction in Japan), the prices are very high. The Japanese have great respect for their war dogs and for other animals that were used in service during the war. Yasukuni shrine even has a war dog statue/monument in place to remember Japan' war dogs. Thank you for posting this very nice photo. MikeB

[Staldion]

Hello Mike, you are 100% correct, first time I saw one, it sold for $2K (for the page coming from an album but other pictures were civilian) I had to let it go! I didn't realize that they were loved like this, amazing! I would like to find one of this flags one day, even the little one that he could wear, really original.

(And thank you for your comment on the flag with the drawing of the path of the soldier, I didn't respond on the topic but would like to say that I would never have grown such interest in japanese flags without your book which was one of my best buy of the last year!)

[J7W22007]

Hi Mathieu-san,

What a stunning photo !!!

The dog's name is

ベルドー號 (Berudo Gou) - Beldo in English.

Thank you for posting.

Cheers!
Taka

[MikeB]

Awesome picture!

Hello Mathieu-
Great to hear from you and thank you again for your book comments. I enjoyed the discussion that focused on your map flag; it's a terrific example. Glad to see that your collection is developing so nicely. Have a great day!
MikeB

[Nick Komiya]

I've seen such a flag for a horse, too. Difficult to reconstruct the name, as it is an European name like Beldeau, Beldough, Berdeau, Berdaugh etc as indicated by the use of Katakana. You can write a westener's name into Katakana, but almost impossible to get the correct original spelling out of the Katakana version. Military horses and dogs all had names ending with 号, a suffix we normally use for names of trains (Hikari-Go, Kodama-Go), Robots (Tetsujin 28 Go) and Ships (Nautilus-Go Zeppelin-Go, Enterprise-Go), normally machines for transport. When you see that after the name on a flag, it is for an animal.　Here's a little drawng of a horse going to war.

[Staldion]

Hello Taka, thank you for the translation, I couldn't resist to share it here. I think it must have been a really good dog.

Mike you are welcome, thank you for your kind words.

Nick, thank you for your very valuable input like always, I see what you mean, like the suffix 君 (kun) or san for men. I hope to be able to find one of them in the futur thanks to you!

I notice the worse also have a scarf around his neck. The flag should be quite huge. I did not know it was a common practice.

Berudo, Berdeau ... Maybe it is Bordeaux like the french city which makes very famous wine of the same name?!

[Nick Komiya]

Bordeaux crossed my mind also, but it is normally written　ボルドー, not ベルドー　and I also could not think of a reason to name a dog after a wine. What the horse has around the neck is a sash or Tasuki, also worn by men across their chest when marching to war.

[Nick Komiya]

Better yet is a photo

[Nick Komiya]

Better than Bordeaux is the product of that region Verdot, which does match the Japanese exactly, but still we are talking wine.

[J7W22007]

Very interesting topic, indeed!

There is a Memorial Service form Yasukuni Shrine for the military animals that gave their lives during the wars. It is called "The Favorite Horse Day" in English.

The service held in April.

愛馬の日 (Aiba no Hi), Hi prounance as English "he". "Love Horse Day".

The service would be held in front of the Statue of War Horse, War Dog and War Pigeon.



Regards,
Taka

[Staldion]

Nick, obviously the drawing was from this picture, very nice indeed. I know the relationship between a horseman and his horse, or a dog master and his dogs are always special, almost like brotherhood, but this kind of ceremony kind of raise the animal at a human statut.

Quite strange to me because I do not know an equivalence of such care in other army.

Human been was also pretty much neglected in the japanese army wasn't it? I mean, even if the soldier was sent to war with the love and care of his family and friend, the life in the army looked like pretty rude and brutal, the individual was neglected for the sake of the nation. So I believed that war animals were considered rather than a raw material than anything else. At least to my gaijin eyes. That is why I am so surprised of this practice on a large scale.

I have heard yesterday a rumor that the fur of the Atika inu was used in flying winter gear, like flight suit, gloves, maybe flying helmet? But no source came with this rumor and I did not see as far as I know that kind of fur in any IJA/IJN flying gear I ever saw. Not being an expert of flying gear nor winter items I am wondering about the accuracy of such rumor.


I did not know the Verdot, some kind of french grape, I make a quick search about it and on the french wiki page the tell that Verdot is present in Australia since 1832. In 2000 there was 1600 ha of it in Australia. Maybe it is the link?


Thanks for sharing Taka. There are some munuments dedicated to war animals in Europe but only very few but most from WWI and there are no special commemoration day. I do not believe there is such monument to remember the use of animals in WWII.

Here are some pictures:



(Chipilly (80))






(Pagny sur Moselle (54))




(Sainte Menehould (51))




(Arras (62))




(Fort de Vaux, Verdun, Meuse (55))






(London)


A nice picture of French Cuirassiers with horses going to the front (1914):




As you see most of time there is a man along with the animal, monuments only dedicated to pets are very rare. Even if they saw an intensive use during WWI, and located only in Northern / Eastern part of France, closest from the Belgium/German border and from the front line.