Origin: Japan
Around 1700, during the Edo Era, a small terrier-type dog was created in Japan. This dog was a result of an out-cross breeding from a primitive type of English Smooth Fox Terrier and Japanese native small breeds. The Smooth Fox Terrier was brought to the country by Dutch sailors from the Netherlands to Nagasaki, Japan. After several generations, the offsprings of the small terrier-type dogs were bred to some sort of Italian Greyhounds.
By the 1900s, at the end of the Meiji Era, some of these best dogs were seen in the Kobe streets, and were called the “Kobe Terriers”. The appearance of these “Kobe Terriers” was like a mix of the modern Smooth Fox Terriers and the Japanese Terriers. These dogs were the first terrier-type dogs to be bred in Japan. The dogs had several names like “Oyuki Terriers” and “Mikado Terriers”, and were kept by the Japanese as well as some foreigners.
Around 1916, in the Nada ward near Kobe, a dog named “Kuro” meaning “black” in Japanese was born from an out-cross breeding from English Toy Terriers and a Toy Bull Terrier both imported from the Western countries. With careful selections of the breeding pairs out of these offsprings and the “Kobe Terriers”, a very short-haired, slim, small terrier type dog was born which are today known as the Japanese Terriers. By 1930, their work with the breed helped develop a standard and was finally recognized by the Japan Kennel Club. The Japanese Terriers did not become widespread until 1940, when they were seen in most major Japanese cities. The demand for this breed skyrocketed when these cities demanded for a small, more active dog than large watch-dogs. However, the breed faced two instances throughout its history where they faced extinction later on: first during World War II, and then around 1948 when the Western breeds became more fashionable.