THE JAPANESE NIPPO STANDARD REVISITED

by Nobi Atsumi.

Like the Japanese poem “Haiku”, things Japanese are often short and simple. The Nippo standard also is brief and concise but written precisely to the point, capturing the essence of Japanese dogs. The pioneers of Nippo carefully studied the characteristics of indigenous dogs in the mountainsides of central Japan and stated the essence of those hunting dogs in a short statement of the Standard. The following is a translation of the explanation of standard, with my comments on the explanation.

Essential Quality and its Expression: When a Nippo judge is placing Shibas in a show he is trying to ascertain the intrinsic qualities of Japanese dogs as a whole rather than evaluating separate parts of the dogs. The intrinsic qualities are KAN-I, RYOSEI and SOBOKU. KAN-I means the intense strength of intrepid character and dignity. Shibas may be fierce and brave without being excessively aggressive to the state of noble excellence. RYOUSEI means faithful and obedient. Dogs should have total trust and attachment to the owner, expressing full bond and partnership. SOBOKU means the natural beauty of seasoned maturity and modest appearance. Its expression is the feeling of refined simplicity and sober elegance.

At the Nippo shows, inner qualities such as concentration, intellect, and dauntless presence are considered the most important aspect of Shibas. As hunting dogs, Shibas have to be self composed with full of confidence. When required Shiba has to be courageous with quick and bold movements. Shibas should have sharp and keen senses, quick and nimble movements together with light, elastic steps. Such expressions only come from Shibas with top physical condition and balanced body.

General Physical Appearance: It is important to have distinct masculine or feminine appearance. The body is proportionately balanced with compact frame. Muscles must be well developed and a height to length ratio should be 100 to 110 with female having a little longer body. In the Nippo shows, The Male that could be mistaken for Female in a first glance would never win and vice versa for female. Unisex look is considered as deterioration of the essence of Shiba. The Male has to have strong, intense eyes while Female is more gentle and graceful. The Male has to have a thick, stout muzzle while the Female muzzle is thinner and elegant. A Similar statement could be made for ears, neck, body structure, tail etc. The key words are strength and dignity for Male, gracefulness and refinement for Female. Proportionately balanced body means harmony of head, neck, torso and four legs to express physical and mental beauty. The Shiba has to be functional as a hunting dog with sharp and keen senses having a natural beauty emanating from the balanced body. Nippo judges talk about “dryness” of body as one of the most important aspects of winning dog. It is a well-conditioned body with developed sinewy muscles, which make it possible to perform hard physical tasks required for hunting. The allowable ranges of height are 38 cm (14.96 in.) to 41 cm (16.14 in.) for Male and 35 cm (13.78 in.) to 38 cm (14.96 in.) for Female.

Ears: The size of ears should be small and proportionate with head size. They are scalene triangle in shape with inside straight and outside somewhat round, standing firmly and leaning forward slightly. Small and proportionate with the head size is self-explanatory but important since some recent Shibas that have too large  a head with too small an ear that should be avoided. Triangle in shape does not mean an equilateral triangle and outside line should be longer and round while the  inside line more or less straight. Standing firmly is another important statement since one of the characteristics of Japanese dog is standing ears. Ears should be thick and folded like a sack, this is called “Fukuro (sack)-mimi (ears)". The ear position has to be neither too high nor too low and the space between the ears should not be too close or too far apart. Leaning forward slightly means 90 degrees angle against the forehead with back of the ears having 60 degrees angle.

Eyes: Eyes should be set deep with strength. They are somewhat triangular and slant upward at the outside corner. Dark brown iris is ideal. Black or light colors are not desirable. Eyes express the inner qualities of Shibas mentioned in (1.) above and in my opinion, it is the single most important part of Shibas. The judging resolution states that dark brown is best but brown is tolerated, however, points are deducted on substantially lighter brown. Yellowish and gray colors are major faults. The shape of eyes for Shibas is different from other Japanese dogs such as Kishus and Shikokus. Somewhat triangular means that the upper eye line and lower eye line are curved at greater angle than Kishus and Shikokus and slanted gently upward. The extension of lower eye lines should point toward the bottom edge of the ears. Thin eyes as well as round eyes lack strength and nobleness. Deep set eyes add strength to its expression but bulged eyes are not becoming of Shibas and must be avoided. How eyes are set is closely related to head size and shape.

Muzzle: A Firm muzzle projects out of full cheeks and the bridge of the nose is straight. The Base of the muzzle is round and stout, tapering slightly to a black nose. The Under jaw should have thickness to give a round appearance of the muzzle. Lips are thin, tight and firmly straight without any slackness. The Stop is moderate. Teeth are strong and complete with proper scissors bite. Anything less than 42 teeth or markings on tongue are not desirable. The above explanation is relatively straight-forward and easy to understand. Again, The Shiba as a hunting dog must have a strong muzzle and teeth. Mr. Araki, one of the top breeders in Japan, stresses the importance of eyes and muzzle when breeding. He likes to see the base of the muzzle round and tight. Some Shibas have curved bridge and dipped nose tip, which lack elegance and good taste. The relationship of the top of head to stop and from stop to tip of nose should be about 6 to 4. Limited number of original breeding stock forced very close inbreeding in the 1940’s and 1950’s and caused inbreeding defects including missing teeth in Shibas. Dentition problems still persist even to this date.

Head and Neck: The forehead is broad, the cheeks well developed and neck sturdy and powerful with moderate length and thickness.The head and neck are dominant parts of the total body and should be strong and sturdy in harmony with other parts. Too large a head with too thick a neck that gives stolid impression is not desirable, on the other hand, too small a head and a narrow forehead looks coarse and lacks nobleness. The Forehead must be broad and flat and it should not be pronounced, so called apple head.

Chest: The fore chest is well developed, ribs are moderately sprung in oval shape (egg shape). The chest depth is approximately one half of total height. Well developed fore chest means wide chest with shoulders pulled back. Barrel chest with elbows pointing out is not desirable and too wide a chest is not suitable for quick and nimble movement required of Shibas. The chest depth is 45% to 50% of the height and it should not give either stumpy or leggy look.

Forelegs and Hind legs: Forelegs are strait and spaced at chest width, elbows close to the body. Pasterns have slight angle with paws knuckled up in a tight grip. The shoulder blades well developed with moderate angle. Hind legs are muscular and well developed with natural stance. The hook joint is tenaciously strong with proper angle, paws having firm grip. Propulsive force to move forward is generated mostly by hind legs but the distribution of body weight should be 60% on forelegs and 40% on hind legs when standing naturally. Any good hunting dogs should have elbows close to the body with developed muscles and tendons. A slight angle on pasterns is important for nimble movements. Some Shibas have flat paws but it should be knuckled up in tight grip. The hind legs must stand firm but elastic. The bone quality should be dense and strong rather than just thick.

Back and Loin: The top line is straight from the shoulder to the base of the tail. The loins are strong and should not move vertically or horizontally at a trot. In Shibas, a weak back usually appears on hip and buttock. Therefore, the lower seven vertebras must be strong and straight and the hip should be thick and sturdy. The top line should be parallel to ground. The straight back gives a strong impression worthy of good hunting dogs.

Tail: The tail is powerful with moderate thickness, either sickle or curled. The tail should be long enough that when pulled the tip of hairs should almost reach to the hook joint. The sickle tail should point forward and curled tail means loose curl with strength. Tight double curled tails and short tails are not desirable. The expression of tail may some times separates the winner from the loser in Nippo shows. A loosely curled tail with beautiful Urajiro is an impressive eye catcher. Ideal curled tail means tail with space (size of a Ping-Pong ball) at the middle. Sickle tails, Sashio, are getting rare even in Japan but strong sickle tails are a beautiful sight to see. On the other hand, tightly curled and double curled tails are unsightly and even ugly.

Coat: The outer coat is stiff and straight having clear colour. The undercoat is soft and thick like cotton having pale colour. The tail hair is slightly longer and stands open. Coat colours in Japanese Shibas are red, red sesame and black and tan with 80% being red. Clear Urajiro white should only appear on cheeks, lower jaw, chest, belly, back of the legs and tail. An over extension of Urajiro white is not desirable. The quality and colour of the hair are important elements for expressing the essence of Japanese Shibas. The tail hairs are the longest hair on Shibas and the quality of tail hairs represent the over all quality of coat hairs and thus an important indicator. Both colour and quality of hairs are very important aspect of external expression of Soboku quality. It should be modest, simple and elegant. The sesame means black-tipped outer hairs sprinkled evenly throughout the body. Hard outer coat stands open supported by dense undercoat. Flat outer coat that looks wet is not desirable. Sesames seem to have best quality hairs followed by Black and Tans. In my opinion, the conformation shows in the past ten years have over emphasized pretty clear Red, causing many recent Shibas to have good colour but lacking bristle hard coat. It is note worthy to mention that Nippo judges have recently become more lenient on some Gomage (black-tipped hairs) in red colour.

Mr. Uki, Secretary General of Nippo and a judge said one has to see good Shibas to understand Shiba Inu. A Thousand words can not express the esthetic beauty of a Shiba even less the full explanation of a very difficult standard.