Hachiko: a lesson of "on" (恩)

Over spring break I had the opportunity to travel to Tokyo, where I saw Hachiko statue at Shibuya Station. I chose to do a post about Hachiko because it is true story that has worked its way into the hearts of most Japanese. Every Japanese person that I have asked is familiar with the story. There are probably hundreds of different publications of the story, and perhaps some with different variations, but the underlying base and themes are the same. The basic story is that a man named Hidesaburo Ueno raised Hachiko from a pup, and the two grew quite fond of each other. Every morning when Hachiko’s owner would leave for work, Hachiko would follow him to Shibuya station to see him off and go back home only to return again to wait for his owner to come back at the ticket gates each evening. This happened every day, but one day his owner suddenly died—it is said that he died either from a stroke or heart attack—while he was away at a meeting. Even though his owner did not return, Hachiko continued to go to the station to wait for him every day for years up until his own death. It is said that those who saw these events were touched at the loyalty and devotion Hachiko showed for his master, and the story became widespread in Japan after it was published in Asahi Shinbun, a major newspaper in Japan.

 Now, the story has been made into at least two movies, and if you search the internet you can find various videos and books dedicated to Hachiko’s tale. The tale has even been issued by the government in textbooks for primary schools as a way to teach moral lessons what the Japanese call on （恩）. Although there is no exact translation of this term into English, it touches along the idea of faithfulness and moral indebtedness to those who have been good to you or taken care of you. Ruth Benedict wrote in her in depth study about the Japanese culture titled The Chrysanthemum and the Sword,

"The moral of this little tale is loyalty which is only another name for love. A son who cares deeply for his mother can speak of not forgetting the on he has received from his mother and mean that he has for her Hachi's single-minded devotion to his master. The term, however, refers specifically not to his love, but to all that his mother did for him as a baby, her sacrifices when he was a boy, all that she has done to further his interests an a man, all that he owes her from the mere fact that she exists. It implies a return upon this indebtedness and therefore it means love. But the primary meaning is the debt, whereas we think of love as something freely given unfettered by obligation (100-101)."

Although Westerners who hear the story of Hachiko may think the moral to be more along the lines of love, the Japanese define the meanings of love and loyalty in a different way. I understand that the meaning of on goes deep into the way Japanese define their relationships to others. The way my Japanese friends explained it to me, it's almost as though they are always conscious of their position in a relationship and feel a desire to thank and pay back those who have sacrificed something for their sake.

I do think that this often has ties to some sort of social ranking system as well, which can be seen throughout the Japanese culture such as the honorifics in the language, the sempai-kohai relationships, and even the ideal picture of what love is. First, the Japanese language has many different levels of formal language, including very casual language used among close friends, a standard formal language which is most used with people you don't know well, and a very formal language used to talk to your superiors, such as your boss or teacher. There are more divisions of the various formalities, but I won't get into that for this blog post. The sempai-kohai relationships are those in which the sempai is the older, more experienced one to be respected, and the kohai is like the trainee, who looks to his sempai for guidance. These relationships can be found in school clubs and in the work place. Finally, the Japanese picture that embodies the ideal relationship of love is the relationship between mother and child. In this way, love is not seen as much as an equal relationship as we see it in the West, but rather a sort of vertical dependency on both ends. What I mean by this is that the child is relatively helpless; he has to depend on his mother for fulfilling his basic needs. The mother, however, also depends on the child in some way because she devotes her life to raising the child, especially because child rearing is almost entirely up to the mother in Japan.

In the end, while the story of Hachiko seems to be a simply children's tale of unconditional love, the Japanese society has come to understand it as something deeper than that. It has come to be something of much greater cultural significance, something that holds ties into what it means to be Japanese and the true picture of relationships with others. That tie has something to do with on.

If you are interested in reading more about the story of Hachiko, please check out the links below:

          http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=445511

          http://dailyme.com/story/2010032100002546/jury-system-japan-quits-league-hachiko.html

          http://www.akita-of-rasproki.eu/info_teil3.en.php

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D

          http://www.northlandakitas.com/pdf/hachiko.pdf

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3s11acb7Z8&feature=fvw