Invincible Bond

 

Even after death
Unwavering faithfulness
Cherished bond renewed

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During the holiday season, I recorded and saved a movie to watch when the choice of good material was slimmer than usual. Saturday night, the prompt to watch it called loudly. The resulting impression is still with me, days later, and feels indelible.

As the credits rolled, along with my stream of tears, I discovered, the movie, “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale”, was based on a true story of Hachikō, who was born in Japan in 1923. Hachikō is  known in Japan, as faithful dog Hachikō (‘hachi’ meaning ‘eight’, a number referring to the dog’s birth order in the litter, and ‘kō’, meaning prince or duke).

According to Wikipedia and some other sources I read:

In 1924, Hachikō was brought to Tokyo by its master, Hidesamuro Ueno, a professor in the agricultural department at the University of Tokyo.  During his owner’s life, Hachikō greeted him at the end of each day at the nearby Shibuya Train Station.  The pair continued their daily routine until May 1925, when Professor Ueno did not return.  The professor had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died, never returning to the train station where Hachikō was waiting.  Hachikō kept this routine and waited for its master at the station for the next 11 years until its death in 1935.

In April 1934, prior to Hachikō’s death, a bronze statue in his likeness was erected at Shibuya Station in Japan.  The statue was recycled for the war effort during World War II.  Another statue was commissioned and erected in August 1948, and is a popular meeting spot.

The exact spot where Hachikō waited in the train station is permanently marked with bronze paw-prints and text in Japanese explaining his loyalty.

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© rgb for “On Dragonfly Wings with Buttercup Tea”, 2011