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October 22, 2008

 

Morie Sawataishi was born in 1913, in northern Japan, a wild region of mountains, and few amenities. His wife found it a shock when he brought this city girl to live there, where he was an engineer for a power company. During World War II things were so desperate that people were eating their pets, in fact, the government official might shoot your dog if necessary, to enforce the laws. Of course the Japanese military valued dogs in the war effort. But they preferred German Shepherds. European breeds. Not the native Japanese bloodlines which had flowed for centuries and featured the product of breeding for certain qualities, not for looks. A quality that Morie called Spirit. The Akitas were the prime example. They were sometimes called cat-like for their quiet ways. By the end of the war, apparently sober estimates gave the number of 16. Sixteen Akitas, the national dog, were left in Japan. 

Before the war ended, for reasons he never could really explain, Morie had unexpectedly sought out an Akita puppy, though he had to build a shelter for it where the neighbors could not spot it. By the end of the century Morie Sawataishi would be credited with preserving the breed. He could also not explain why he never let anyone pay him for a puppy. He gave them away, to the right people. Even when because of his dogs' bloodlines, the dogs were worth thousands of dollars, and the money was needed to send children to college, he refused to sell a dog, although many buyers were always waiting.

In March of 2008 a biography of Morie Sawataishi was published. Dog Man, by Martha Sherrill. Sherrill, a good writer, had the sense not to gloss the facts of Morie's life. Just relate them.

In June of 2008 a volcano erupted near their handbuilt mountain home, a few acres bordering a national forest in those same wild mountains that are the stars in the biography. The Sawataishis evacuated to Tokyo, where one of the daughters had a veterinary practice. 

They evacuated before the boulder rolled through their home. On October 22, 2008 Morie Sawataishi died.

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