A Socio-Historical and Cultural Study of the Extinction of the Ezo Wolf in Japan

1. Introduction

This article, based on the Ameblo entry “History of Wolves in Japan, Part II: The Extinction of the Ezo Wolf”, examines the extinction process of the Ezo wolf (Canis lupus hattai) during the Meiji era. The analysis adopts a multi-layered perspective, considering environmental changes, socio-economic factors, cultural dynamics, and government policies.

2. Ainu Culture and the Ezo Wolf

The article highlights that the Ainu people revered the wolf, calling it Horokeu or Ōsekamui, and honored it alongside the bear in iomante (sending-off rituals for spirits).

This demonstrates that wolves were regarded not merely as animals but as spiritual and religious beings within society.

Additional cultural expressions, such as wolf motifs carved on crests, or heroic tales of wolves preserved in yukar (oral epic poetry), further reflect the wolf’s deep-rooted place in Ainu indigenous culture.

3. Conflict with Wajin Society and the Start of Extermination

As Japanese settlers (Wajin) expanded into Hokkaidō from the late Edo period, livestock depredation by wolves became frequent. In Hakodate and other regions, petitions for the use of firearms to kill wolves illustrate growing social pressure.Note: At this time, the Japanese wolf (Canis lupus hodophilax) was also in decline due to rabies outbreaks, possibly reinforcing a negative perception of wolves overall.

4. The Meiji Era: Modernization and Extermination Policies

Following the Meiji Restoration, rapid development and livestock farming framed wolves as “harmful animals” subject to systematic extermination.The most notorious example was the use of strychnine-laced poison bait, introduced by Edwin Dun, which proved devastatingly effective—capable of annihilating entire packs in a single night.

The Kaitakushi (Hokkaidō Development Commission) also implemented a bounty system, progressively raising rewards to encourage wolf hunting, accelerating extermination across the island.

5. Hunting Statistics and Environmental Pressures

Extermination efforts were carefully recorded, with wolf kills peaking in the late 1870s to early 1880s (e.g., 432 wolves killed in 1886).

At the same time, extreme weather events—such as heavy snowfalls and violent storms—caused mass die-offs of Ezo deer, the wolves’ primary prey. This ecological disruption further reduced their survival prospects.

6. Ecological Factors and the Mechanism of Decline

From a zoological perspective, wolves’ social structure and their constant food demand in winter contributed to their rapid extinction. Unlike solitary animals such as bears, wolves were more easily eliminated in groups, hastening population collapse.

7. The Final Stage of Extinction

By the prewar period, even interest in wolves as a “tourist curiosity” had faded. Direct encounters became exceedingly rare, and extinction was increasingly accepted as both a social and cultural reality.

Today, only a few specimens remain: two taxidermied wolves (male and female) and two skulls. This scarcity underscores the profound gaps in scientific knowledge.

8. Supplementary Perspective: Misidentification with Stray Dogs

The article also notes cases where wild Japanese dogs (yama-inu) were mistaken for wolves. Such confusion, especially when transmitted through rumor and folklore, may have hindered later investigations into the wolf’s true historical status.

Conclusion: Summary and Interdisciplinary Significance

The extinction of the Ezo wolf was not a simple ecological event. It emerged from the collision between Ainu cultural traditions and the modern nation-state, compounded by environmental shifts, state policies, and cultural misinterpretations.

Future research must re-examine the limited remaining sources—taxidermy, bone fragments, folklore, and oral traditions—through an interdisciplinary lens combining history, cultural anthropology, and zoology, to reconstruct this multi-faceted human–wolf relationship.