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A ke bono kane kotto
Mar 18, 2010, 16:24
Our canine friends are consumed as meat in Korea, China and pretty much all over South-East Asia. Japan is the only East Asian country (with Mongolia ?) where dog meat is not eaten. But it used to be different. Japan inherited from the same pan-East Asian traditions, probably dating back to the Neolithic domestication of dogs in China. I read that dogs were eaten by the Japanese in ancient times, but I do not know until when and why it stopped. I heard of a Tokugawa shogun who loved pet dogs and made it illegal to kill dogs under sentence of death. This would have effectively put an end to dog consumption. But were dogs eaten that moment in the Edo period ?

Maciamo
Mar 18, 2010, 17:59
Wikipedia says that dog meat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_meat#Japan) was consumed widely in Japan until 675 A.D, when Emperor Temmu decreed a prohibition on its consumption. But apparently the practice continued later, as it says "During the Tokugawa period (17th ~ 19th century), it was observed that eating dog meat was a common practice around the region of Edo."

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_Tsunayoshi), nicknamed the "dog shogun", was the one who instituted protection laws for dogs. He was born in the year of the Dog, and followed the Buddhist belief that all living things are sacred and should be protected. Wiki doesn't mention death penalty for killing dogs, except for an isolated case of an apprentice in Edo who was executed because he wounded a dog.

Alika
Jan 15, 2015, 18:39
A ke bono kane kotto! I would like to appreciate you at this unique topic and help me to know about a different topic. I had no idea about it that there were illegal to kill dogs under sentence of death in Japan.