I fancy this blog a means of sharing things that momentarily brighten my dismal corner of the world with a likely undeserving audience. So behold such a thing, the Korean Jindo dog.
The Jindo is indigenous to Korea's Jindo Island. Snowy, virile, and obscure, it is my new fantasy dog.
Naturally, I was curious about what kind of island could produce such a magnificent dog. Though currently written in the Korean phonetic script as 진도, the island's name was originally written with the Chinese characters 珍島. "To/do" 島 means island and "jin" 珍 means uncommon, curious, or peculiar. So there you go.
The "jin"-ness of both island and dog is endorsed by the island's
official website, which claims that "compared to other dogs, the Jindo Dog has many distinguished traits." The website goes on to list its "superior characteristics:"
"First, the character of loyalty to its master."
"Second, it has a miraculous returning home instinct."
"Third, indomitable hunting instinct."
"Forth, not falling to strangers temptation."
"Fifth, characteristic of fastidiousness."
Etc. It is easy to see why Jindo islanders, and Koreans in general, are proud of their dog, to the point of designating the breed "[National] Treasure of Historic Beauty Natural Treasure number 53" in 1937, at which point "indiscriminate shipping of the dog" was prohibited. Perhaps to prevent innocent Jindo dogs from falling to strangers' temptations in intemperate foreign lands.
Imagine my distress when I learned that the Jindo dog's initial examination, consideration and approval for National Treasure status was conducted not by a Korean, but a Japanese dog expert: one Professor Mori, also a senator in the colonial government! Apparently, the "standard of the Jindo dog’s examination" was favorable comparison to "Japanese native dogs." Might the Jindo's designation have been no more than an insidious attempt at cultural assimilationism by the hated Japanese?
Such doubts are compounded by the frightful possibility that the Jindo is not even native: "during 1970 (30 years after the announcement of its origination), there are concerns of which the rumors, verbally passed down, is believed to be true by our people: that the ancestors of the Jindo Dog are the Mongol dogs or dogs from Song dynasty, China."
One can only imagine that these rumors forced Korean Jindo owners of the 1970s to ask difficult questions: to which master is the characteristically loyal Jindo
truly loyal? Might my beloved Jindo's miraculous returning-home instinct some day drive it to flee to far Mongolia, or even Song-dynasty China?
Fortunately, as the island's website reassures us, later "document analysis and scientific research" proved these concerns to be ungrounded, confirming that the Jindo is, beyond a doubt, "our nation's native dog."
It's good to know that the Jindo dog is indeed as "jin" -- uncommon -- as whatever branch of the Korean government put such effort into proving its pedigree is "jin" -- peculiar.
Lest I sully this blog's inaugural post with an impression of 'post-colonial' cynicism, I'll end with a link to the
genuinely heartwarming story of Baekgu, the Jindo whose 3-day vigil over his dead master's body moved neighbors to tears and made them "consider the dog to be better than human." Fo' sho.
