# Nihon Ken — International Placements with Working Homes

> Shigeru Kato's work placing Nihon Ken with serious working homes outside Japan — Norway hunters especially — as a hedge against the shrinking Japanese hunting population.

A surprising fraction of the world's best-working Nihon Ken now live outside Japan. Shigeru Kato has been a major force in that shift — placing Kai, Shikoku, and other Nihon Ken with serious hunters internationally, particularly in Norway. This is preservation work, not export-for-revenue: the placements are calibrated to working homes that will actually hunt the dogs.

## Why International Placements Matter for Preservation

The Japanese hunting population is shrinking. Dainihon Hunter's Association membership has declined steadily for decades as Japan's rural areas depopulate and younger Japanese aren't taking up hunting at the same rate previous generations did. That decline directly threatens the working Nihon Ken population — if there are fewer hunters using these dogs in Japan, there's less selection pressure inside Japan for the working temperament that defines the breeds.

Shigeru's argument is that placing dogs with capable working hunters internationally is preservation work in the most direct sense: it keeps a working population alive and selected-for in environments where the hunting culture is still active. Norway's hunters in particular have proven to be excellent stewards — there's an established big-game hunting culture (moose, bear, hare), the regulatory environment supports working dogs, and the hunters who've taken up Nihon Ken have been serious about understanding what these dogs are.

## The Norway Connection

Several of Shigeru's 2025 posts document this thread directly:

- **"Old is New: Shikoku Ken 'Ichiju Ikku' in the Fjords of Norway"** (October 2025) — the Shikoku Ken specifically has found a strong working home in Norway. The title quotes the matagi ideal **ichijuu-ikku** (一銃一狗, "one gun, one dog") — Norwegian hunters working solo with single Shikoku in mountain terrain that's structurally similar to where the breed originated.
- **"Interview With Jeger in Norway"** (November 2025) — Norwegian hunter interview about working Nihon Ken in Scandinavian conditions.
- **"Big Game Indicating Dogs"** (November 2025) — the broader framing of what these dogs do well in big-game contexts internationally.

## The Selection Criteria

Shigeru doesn't place dogs internationally based on who has the money. The selection runs through working capability and seriousness of the home:

- The home has to actually hunt the dog. Pet placements abroad are a non-starter; they don't help the preservation argument.
- The hunter has to understand Nihon Ken hunting style — silent tracking, hoe-dome bay, adaptive single-dog work — and want THAT specifically, not a Japanese-flavored version of a Western breed.
- Long-term relationship with the breeder. International placements come with continued contact, breed-back conversations, sometimes future imports of related dogs.

## How This Connects to My Work

Most of my Kai Ken imports from Japan moved through Shigeru's network. The same logistics he uses for placing Kai with hunters in Norway are how he's been my channel for bringing Kai bloodlines to North America. The principle is the same on both ends: serious working homes, breeder-to-breeder relationships, preservation framed as a global project rather than a Japan-only one.

## Sources

- Shigeru Kato, "Old is New: Shikoku Ken 'Ichiju Ikku' in the Fjords of Norway" (October 2025), nihonken.co.
- Shigeru Kato, "Interview With Jeger in Norway" (November 2025), nihonken.co.
- Shigeru Kato, "Big Game Indicating Dogs" (November 2025), nihonken.co.
- See `topics/nihon-ken-show-vs-working-divide.md` for why the working-population question is the load-bearing one.
- See `personal/brad-anderson-biography.md` for the North American side of these placements — my 50+ Kai Ken imports.

## Details

- **Category:** Topics
- **Tags:** nihon-ken, preservation, shigeru-kato, japan, norway, export, working-dogs, shikoku-ken, kai-ken, international
- **Originally published at:** [https://www.nihonken.co/](https://www.nihonken.co/)

**Also read:** [All writing](https://bradanderson.org/writing?format=md) · [About Brad](https://bradanderson.org/about?format=md)

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