Many Japanese once revered the wolf as Oguchi no Magami, or
Large-Mouthed Pure God, but as Japan began its modern transformation
wolves lost their otherworldly status and became noxious animals that
needed to be killed. By 1905 they had disappeared from the country. In
this spirited and absorbing narrative, Brett Walker takes a deep look at
the scientific, cultural, and environmental dimensions of wolf
extinction in Japan and tracks changing attitudes toward nature through
Japan's long history.
Grain farmers once worshiped wolves at shrines and left food offerings
near their dens, beseeching the elusive canine to protect their crops
from the sharp hooves and voracious appetites of wild boars and deer.
Talismans and charms adorned with images of wolves protected against
fire, disease, and other calamities and brought fertility to agrarian
communities and to couples hoping to have children. The Ainu people
believed that they were born from the union of a wolflike creature and a
goddess.
In the eighteenth century, wolves were seen as rabid man-killers in many
parts of Japan. Highly ritualized wolf hunts were instigated to cleanse
the landscape of what many considered as demons. By the nineteenth
century, however, the destruction of wolves had become decidedly
unceremonious, as seen on the island of Hokkaido. Through poisoning,
hired hunters, and a bounty system, one of the archipelago's largest
carnivores was systematically erased.
The story of wolf extinction exposes the underside of Japan's
modernization. Certain wolf scientists still camp out in Japan to listen
for any trace of the elusive canines. The quiet they experience reminds
us of the profound silence that awaits all humanity when, as the
Japanese priest Kenko taught almost seven centuries ago, we "look on
fellow sentient creatures without feeling compassion."
