The Canine Heroes of the Imperial Japanese Army

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By James Simpson,War Is Boring

In the corner of the Enmei Buddhist Temple grounds in the coastal city of Zushi in Japan’s Kanagawa Prefecture, stands a stone cenotaph that reads “Monument to the Protection of Animals.”

The inscription dates back to 1958, but before that time there was another memorial here called the Monument to the Loyal Dogs. Although the incense still burns for the ashes of three dogs interred here more than 80 years ago, few of Zushi’s residents could tell you what the stone actually stands in memory of.

Inside the granite memorial lie the remains of three German Shepherds, all of whom were military working dogs who served in Manchuria in 1931 under the loving care of their Zushi-born handler, Maj. Itaru Itakura.

Their story is one of a family tragedy twisted into military propaganda—of truth distorted into drama as Japan marched into the Second Sino-Japanese War.

It all began in Manchuria in September 1931.