のらいぬクロの冒険 (Nora Inu Kuro no Boken) [Stray Dog Kuro's Adventure] by 那須正幹 (Masamoto Nasu) (Mainichi Shinbun) ~Ernie Hoyt *Japanese text only

As a long time resident of Japan and a self-taught Japanese kanji reader I often like to challenge myself by reading a book in its original language. The city library was holding a recycle book campaign where I picked up five books. My kanji reading ability is still probably around an elementary student’s level so I mostly chose children’s books to take home. 

The first one I read was のらいぬクロの冒険 (Nora Inu Kuro no Boken). The title translates into English as Stray Dog Kuro’s Adventure. It was published in 2003 by Mainichi Shinbun and was written by Masamoto Nasu and illustrated by Moe Nagata.

Kuro, the main character, was born at the end of spring in the garden of a house under a magnolia tree. He was one of a litter of four. Kuro’s mother was a young dog whose doghouse was located near the root of the magnolia tree. She was all brown except for the tip of her tail which was white. 

In reality, the parents had no intention of getting a dog but their children begged them so they got a dog from an acquaintance of the father. At the time, the dog was still a puppy and they named her Moko.

At first, everyday someone would take Moko for a walk in the morning, but after six months, the family stopped taking her for walks. Moko would spend all day tied up near her doghouse in the garden. 

When Moko was a puppy, the children would bring their friends over and play with the dog. Once Moko got older, the family would ignore her and Moko became hard to please. If someone new came into the garden, she would bark loudly and jump at them with such force it seems like the chain would snap. Whenever she did that, the father would punish her. Now, the only person taking care of Moko was the mother, but all she did was bring Moko food. 

One day the mother was shocked. She shouted, “Oh no! Moko has given birth to some puppies”. Sure enough, she gave birth to a litter of four. The children were excited and begged their mom if they could keep them. Their mother ignored their requests but their father answered, “How can you keep any more dogs if you can’t even take proper care of Moko?”

The father’s solution to the problem was taking the four puppies away from Moko, placing them in a cardboard box, and taking the box to a nearby park and leaving it there. These days if someone were caught doing something like that, they would be suspected of cruelty to animals. It’s unfortunate that this practice still continues today. 

The puppies were still small and crying for their mother. At the park, the puppies managed to get out of the cardboard box and they went running around the park looking for their mother. Unfortunately, one of the puppies fell into a small river and was taken away by the current. There were now only three puppies. 

An adult stray who lived at the park heard the cries of the puppies. An old lady who frequented the park and would often give her food called her Shiro as she was a white dog. Shiro. She decided to take care of the remaining three puppies. However, by the following morning, two more of the puppies were cold and didn’t have a heartbeat. Kuro would be the sole surviving puppy. 

This is where Kuro's real adventure begins. Shiro teaches Kuro how to be a strong and independent stray dog. She teaches him to avoid certain areas at certain times of the day. She shows him different places where humans will sometimes give them food. She also teaches him to not trust any humans. 

One day, a young boy finds Kuro at the park. Kuro reminds him of a pet he had when he was younger and decides to take Kuro home. At first, Kuro is very cautious but as the days go by, he learns to trust the boy and learns that the boy’s name is Tetsuo. Tetsuo takes good care of Kuro and becomes his pet. 

The story is simple and easy to follow. It teaches the reader about being responsible for a pet. As long as owners love and care for their pets, there would be less animal cruelty, such as the father abandoning newborn puppies in a park far from their home. 

I’m not a pet owner but when I hear or read about the cruelty some people do to animals, it makes me very angry. Kuro was lucky to have been found by a boy like Tetsuo. If only there more people like Tetsuo, this would be a better world.