The History of Wolves under Imperial Rule — Nature in Colonial Japan

1. Introduction

The Japanese wolf (Canis lupus hodophilax) declined rapidly after the Meiji era and was declared extinct in the early twentieth century. Yet discourse about wolves extended beyond the home islands to colonial territories under Japanese rule—southern Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and Taiwan. These regions harbored native wolf populations (e.g., the Korean nukte), which Japanese authorities folded into an expanded “history of wolves in Japan,” treating them as objects of management, extermination, and study.

This article reconstructs the history of these “wolves under colonial governance” and explores its cultural-historical significance.

2. Imperial Expansion and Changing Perceptions of Wolves

2.1 From Sacred Being to Pest in the Home Islands

Up to the Edo period, wolves were venerated as spiritual beings; after the Meiji Restoration they were reframed as “livestock predators” and targeted for systematic extermination. This shift symbolized a broader reorganization of views of nature in the making of the modern nation-state.

2.2 Colonial Perspectives

In territories acquired after the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, wolves were treated as “obstacles to development” and incorporated into the imperial worldview of nature. Encounters in Sakhalin’s forests or Korea’s mountains were narrated not merely as wildlife records but as stories of “overcoming wilderness.”

3. Wolf-Hunting Records and the Military Context

3.1 Nakamura Sei’s The Ordeal of 1923

Accounts of wolf hunts in freezing mountains depict clashes between modern, firearm-equipped hunters and wolves pursuing prey. These narratives symbolized not only hunting experiences but also the confrontation between “humans subduing nature” and “wolves as threats,” echoing themes of development and military strengthening in modern Japan.

3.2 The Military and Wolves

Colonial garrisons also recorded encounters with wolves. Armies treated wolves as targets of extermination in the name of security and policing, sometimes even recording such encounters as “combat.” This illustrates the intersection of military and environmental history, with wolf control forming part of imperial strategies for managing nature.

4. Intersections with Local Cultures

4.1 Korea’s Nukte

The Korean wolf (nukte) was both feared and revered in local folklore, tied to tales of the supernatural and to protective charms. Japanese scholars and administrators studied it while often comparing it with the Japanese wolf or Japanese dogs, subsuming it within imperial discourses of assimilation.

4.2 Taiwan and Sakhalin

In Taiwan, the tiger drew greater attention as the pre-eminent large predator, while wolves were less prominent. In Sakhalin, by contrast, Amur wolves were reported as “obstacles to forest development.” These cases show how Japanese authorities sought to “manage” nature across the empire’s contrasting northern and southern environments.

5. Dogs, Wolves, and Imported Hybrids

5.1 Importation of Foreign Wolves

Wolves imported from the continent by animal traders entered zoos and private collections. Writers such as Yonekichi Hiraiwa, who kept wolves, drew on them in literary works to supplement the fading image of wolves in Japan.

5.2 Wolfdogs and Pure-Blood Ideology

Crosses between continental wolves and Western breeds (wolfdogs) attracted some enthusiasts but were rejected by the military and academia as “uncontrollable.” The Japan Dog Preservation Society emphasized the maintenance of “pure bloodlines,” excluding wolf crosses. The institutionalization of canine culture thus closely aligned with national systems of control.

6. Overseas Comparisons — Empires and Nature Management

Japan’s extermination and management of wolves paralleled colonial policies of Western powers:

• American West: Large-scale eradication in the late nineteenth century as part of frontier development.

• British colonies: “Vermin extermination” in India and Africa used to legitimize imperial rule.

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Similarly, wolf control in Japan’s colonies embodied both the “maintenance of imperial order” and the “subjugation of nature.”

7. Ideological Implications — Transforming Views of Wolves

For Japanese people, wolves had once been divine messengers. Through modernization and imperial expansion, they were recast as pests and ultimately as instruments reinforcing imperial visions of nature. This transformation reflects not merely zoological classification but a broader process of positioning nature as a resource for political control.

8. Agendas for Future Research

Research on wolves under colonial rule remains fragmentary. Priorities include:

• Close examination of colonial administrative and military records to reconstruct extermination practices;

• Comparative analysis of wolf traditions in Korea, Sakhalin, and Taiwan alongside Japanese perceptions;

• Investigation of links to canine culture (preservation societies, military dogs, imported breeds);

• Interdisciplinary integration of imperial history, environmental history, and folklore studies.

9. Conclusion

The “history of wolves under imperial rule” is not merely animal history; it is a site where imperial Japan’s views of nature, governance ideologies, and cultural imagination intersected.While wolves disappeared from the archipelago, in colonial territories they persisted as “pests,” “research subjects,” and “cultural symbols,” mirroring imperial self-image. Reconsidering the history of wolves thus offers crucial insight into how modern Japan managed nature and legitimized its dominion.