Hachiko and Greyfriars Bobby: Stories of Loyal Dogs
Right now, my daughter is in a phase of her childhood where she wants a dog. We haven’t gotten one yet, but we have started reading stories about dogs. We began with two classic stories from very different parts of the world: Japan and Scotland. One story is about Hachiko, a Japanese Akita-ken, who faithfully waited for his professor-master at the Shibuya railway station in Tokyo in the early part of the century even after his master died at work and failed to come home on his usual train. The other story is about Bobby, a Skye terrier who abided by his police-man master’s grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh, Scotland for fourteen years. Both dogs have been immortalized in books and films.
For children’s books on Hachiko, there is Hachiko Waits by Leslea Newman (illus. by Machiyo Kodaira), published in 2004 and Hachiko:The True Story of a Loyal Dog by Pamela Turner (illus. by Yan Nascimbene) also published the same year. An Americanized movie version of the story is currently in the making called Hachiko: A Dog’s Story. Bobby was made famous by Eleanor Atkinson‘s 1912 book Greyfriars Bobby and it is on the basis of this book that movies were made about Bobby — namely Disney’s 1961 Greyfriars Bobby and the more recent 2006 The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby. A more recent retelling of the story in book form is Ruth Brown‘s The Ghost of Greyfriars Bobby.
In addition to the books and movies, are monuments to the dogs themselves. In Tokyo, Hachiko’s statue is a prime meeting spot at busy Shibuya Station (I’ve met many a friend there) and Bobby’s statue is in front of Greyfriars Bobby Pub not far from Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh. If in your travels, you ever get a chance to go to these cities, you might want to visit these monuments to two very remarkable and loyal dogs.
April 4th, 2009 at 6:27 am
I recently read Hachiko Waits to my 4th graders and they LOVED it! One of my Japanese girls delighted in helping me with pronouncing the Japanese words, and now she wants to turn the book into a play for our class to perform for the whole school!
April 4th, 2009 at 11:06 am
I grew up with Greyfriars Bobby but didn’t know about Hachiko – we will have to look out the book. And it’s wonderful to hear about Mary Lee’s class. I hope you’ll come back and tell us about the play, Mary Lee!
April 4th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
A play, what a great idea! Yes, do come back and tell us how the play went, Mary Lee.
April 7th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Lovely post, Sally! Thanks! I must read these to my seven year-old, who is also going through a serious “dog phase” (it’s been two years already!). If only she knew how close we are to giving her a dog!… Her favorite dog books at the moment are the ones in the “Puppy Place” series of sweet and heartwarming stories about a family who fosters dogs. The dogs always find a good home in the end…
May 2nd, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Never heard of Hachiko’s story before but how sad and sweet! I recently read Eleanor Atkinson’s book and it made me cry.
May 30th, 2009 at 12:12 am
Greyfriars Bobby does not have an apostrophe. He is named for the Kirk of the Greyfriars in whose churchyard he and his master are buried. The Kirk itself was built on the site of a Franciscan (Grey Friars) friary.
May 30th, 2009 at 5:49 am
Hi Heather: Thanks for your comment! I’ve made the correction in the post as you will see. I did not know the lovely kirk and kirkyard we visited was once a friary.
May 24th, 2010 at 7:08 am
I love those large German Shepherd dogs and also those tiny Chihuahua“’
March 10th, 2011 at 1:25 am
Yes, dogs deserve such monuments. Great respect.