Raijin, God of Lightning/Thunder, Storms, and my heart

Raijin (雷神 , Rye-gin)

My wife, Eva, and I have been considering adopting a puppy for a while. By a while, I mean…a while. I work from home 9 hours a day and it gets quite lonely around the house while she is away at work. Thus, my desire for an indoor dog was born. Eva has wanted a dog for a while longer than I.

Initially, I was considering a Shiba. However, I wanted a dog that was bigger and more alert. After reading about Japanese breeds I decided that a Shikoku was exactly what I wanted. Shikoku dogs are one of the legendary six Japanese spitz-type dogs. The other five being, Shiba, Akita, Hokkaido, Kai, and Kishu. Shikoku are agile, athletic, and renown big game hunters. They are prized for their tenacity in the face of large prey and loved for their calm nature around family. Shikoku are also very intelligent dogs who love to please their masters. Eva fell in love with the breed once she saw pictures of them and so we set out to find a breeder. Once we found one, we described what we wanted, and we paired up with a pup who had a white blaze on his nose.

Depicted Raijin at Kaminarimon

Since our pup was a Japanese Shikoku, I figured he should have a Japanese name. I originally wanted to name him Oni, but since “oni” means demon, I thought he should have a more loving name. Side note here, I wanted to get a girl later down the line and name her “Giri”. The two would be Oni-Giri, one of my favorite Japanese snacks. Since this pup had a blaze on his nose, I knew his name had to be lightning related. During my search for a name, I remember being very impressed by a pair of guardian statues at Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, Japan. Upon arriving at the Kaminarimon (雷門), Thunder gate, you could see two immense statues known as Fujin, God of wind; and Raijin, God of thunder. What could be a more fitting name? Especially since his litter only had one other male.

Andrew Sauder