HONSHŪ WOLF (Canis lupus hodophilax), ニホンオオカミ（日本狼), extinct subspecies of gray wolf that was native to the southern archipelago of Japan (Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū). The Honshū wolf is commonly known as the Japanese wolf, though remains of a 28,000-year-old wolf specimen found in the Siberian arctic, which had DNA in common with the Japanese wolf, indicate a shared ancestry outside of Japan. At approximately 35 inches long, the Honshū wolf was the world’s smallest known subspecies of gray wolf.
The Honshū wolf was believed to be the last surviving wild member of the Pleistocene wolf lineage. Many domesticated Japanese dog breeds species share DNA from this lineage, suggesting that the Japanese wolf may have been the closest wild relative of domesticated dogs in Japan.
The Japanese wolf was abundant in Japan until the early eighteenth century, when rabies and canine distemper outbreaks were introduced to the population, causing a dip in population and mass panic about the diseased specimens. In 1868, the Meiji Restoration began, bringing about an era of drastic social, political, and economic changes that aimed to Westernize Japan. Brett Walker explains that Meiji policy adopted American hostilities toward wolves, categorizing them as “noxious animals.” This official stance, further charged by fears of rabies and disease, led to the vilification of wolves of all kinds; people began killing them en masse. The population was essentially decimated by the twentieth century, and the Honshū wolf was declared extinct in 1905, after the last specimen was shot on the island of Honshū. Though there have been several claimed sightings in the past century, none have been legitimated by experts. Mounted specimens are located at the National Museum of Nature and Science, Japan; University of Tokyo, Japan; Wakayama University, Japan; Siebold Collection, and the National Museum of Natural History, Leiden, Netherlands.
In the commonly practiced Japanese Shinto (shūkyō, 神道) religion, wolves are traditionally regarded as messengers of the kami (神), supernatural entities that are believed to inhabit all animals and earthly forces. Wolves also occupy a protective position in Japanese folklore. One commonly repeated story, as described by Hayashi Michiko, tells of wolves accompanying travelers’ home, keeping malevolent spirits at bay. Upon arriving at their destination, travelers are expected to thank the wolf and present it with an offering of adzuki beans and rice gruel. Wolves are also believed to defend crops against raiders such as wild boar and deer and are a popular subject of Shinto shrines for this reason.