Akita Colors
AKITA breed is characterized by three main colors, which are approved by the breed standard. The fourth color, til, is recognized by FCI but is not welcome in Japanese breeding.The entire text of the bulletin does not make sense. The bulletin excludes black and spotted color from Akita colors. Up to this point in Europe there was no clear separation of American and Japanese standards. Apparently at the same time, there was a mark in FCI stanart about Urajiro. The bulletin emphasized that colleagues from JKC and FCI had noticed the discrepancy of standards earlier (apparently, working more closely with foreign breeders). This newsletter officially announces that from now on, there will be 2 standards of Akita – American and Japanese – for Japan, and reinforces this by the division of colors, considering the spotting and solid black unacceptable for Akita Inu. It also notes that the American Akita has a longer body. Due to problems in interpreting and translating the Japanese standard, the standards of Europe and America began to need a lot of clarification. Mr. Tadayoshi directly states that there are a lot of controversial points in the standard and almost all words about the character of Akita are not translatable into other languages (except Japanese). As far as can be judged from this newsletter, the Akita standard cannot be considered established. Mr. Tadayoshi writes “our intention was not to fix the standard, but to support the subject of the Akita standard”. So there will be a sequel?
Important definitions given in the bulletin: Urazhiro – a distinctive feature of primitive dogs, and hence Akita. The inside of the Akita body should be white. The color itself is also uneven – it becomes more intense towards the back of the dog. The paws and tail also become more intensely colored towards the top. It is emphasized that this is a distinctive feature of all Japanese breeds. If spots appear on this white background – this does not match the color of the Japanese dog.
According to the standard Akikh since 2005 it is allowed:
small spots on the uragiro on the lower part of the paws – only in tiger dogs
groove on the forehead
thin and not solid collar white
Invalid:
broad grooves on the forehead that look ugly
wide white scarf around the neck
too much white rising quite high up
Now I would like to give examples of dogs of all permissible for Akita okasas. Let’s start with the rarest color – white. White dogs are less common throughout Europe and in Japan itself, although in our country, oddly enough, they are not the rarest.
Akita Inu red color come in different shades – they can be very light, the so-called “sesame” color, can be very rich – like this dog:
Rich red is appreciated more
Now let’s move on to the rarest color in Russia, and at the same time very popular in Europe. This is brindle color. In 2010, tiger dogs won most of the major shows in Europe, and this is not by chance, as tiger dogs are very effective. Photos do not convey the beauty of tigers at all, they must be seen with their own gases.
Brindle color distinguish several subspecies. It is black-brindle (kurotora), red-brindle (akatora), silvery brindle (shimofuri).
Our Hanafubuki Go is a classic representative of black tiger color, with barely noticeable stripes of white wool on a black background.
Our Ayame Go – red tiger color
And the color is silver-brindle, very beautiful, very rare and very valuable – Reishun Go Ryuutensou
Separately mention color sesame. Sesame is a classic red color with a touch of black on the back or with a belt on the back. It is allowed by the FCI standard, but is not welcome in Japan.
