DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



at chess with a certain prince. Perceiving that her Imperial 

 master was certain to suffer the indignity of defeat, his wife, 

 who was an interested spectator, contrived to loose her pet 

 dog upon the board, so that the pieces were upset and the 

 game ruined, to the great delight of the Emperor. This dog 

 was white * in colour, and was named " Wo " (pronounced 

 Waugh). It came from the K'ang country, one of the nine 

 kingdoms founded by the Emperor Wen in the Pamirs. f 



Possibly the famous poet Yuan Wei Ch'ih of this period 

 was referring to this dog when he wrote the couplet quoted 

 in K'ang Hsi's dictionary : 



How fierce is proud Wo, 

 Though still in his slumbers. 



The Emperor K'ang Hsi's dictionary refers to the character 

 " Wo," and states that this name was applied to a race of 

 small dogs. The name was probably in general use towards 

 the close of the T'ang Dynasty. 

 The first occasion on which the Ssuchuan " pai " J pro- 



* Stated to have been white in one only of many references. 



f " Kuang Shih Lai Fu," by Ho Hsi Min. 



j Bat Dog. The oldest generic name for small dogs is " pai," pronounced in the 

 ancient dialect of Shansi approximately " bye." It is recorded from the Han 

 dynasty, 100-200 B.C. The mongol name for pet dogs is No-hai. The Thibetan is 

 Chi-choong. 



The famous dictionary compiled under the Emperor K'ang Hsi (A.D. 1662-1723) 

 quotes two old encyclopaedias as considering the word " pai " to refer to : 



(1) A dog with short legs. Quotation from the " Shuo Wen." Han Dynasty. About 

 A.D. 150. 



(2) A dog with a short head. Quotation from the " Kwang Yun," Sung Dynasty. 

 About A.D. 1000. This authority states that the above character was also pro- 

 nounced " p'ai " pronounced pie in English. 



(3) An under-table dog. " Kwang Yun," Sung Dynasty. A.D. 1000. This 

 authority also states that " bai " refers to a " short-headed " dog. 



High tables have been used in China for about 1000 years only. This quotation 

 makes reference to small tables similar to those whose use survives in Japan to the 

 present day, so that the writers may be taken to mean that " bai " refers to a race of 

 small dogs which were generally short-legged as well as " short-headed." 



It will therefore be noted that the character referred to a short-legged dog from, at 



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