Ourou Sou Kishu Ken

02/28/2026

At this time, those interested in a Kishu Ken should reach out to other Kishu Ken breeders, such as Akagawa Roushya or Akiyama no Roushya. Kiseki no Yama is another breeder I know who may produce Kishu Ken.

We have had no luck with breeding Sakura thus far, and I will be skipping a heat cycle before I try again. After 3 back to back attempts resulting with no pregnancy, I am both emotionally and financially depleted, and need a bit of time before we attempt again.

I apologize to anyone who was hopeful for a Sakura puppy! Maybe in the next year or so, but there are no guarantees and I do not have another breeding female in my small program.

01/08/2026

Kennel Club of Palm Springs!

Wow, where to begin! I showed Sakura January 3rd-5th at the Kennel Club of Palm Springs Open Shows this past weekend amongst some lovely competitive dogs in multiple other breeds and their wonderful owners.

Firstly; Congrats to all of the winners this weekend! It was such a pleasure seeing my West Coast Dog Show pals this weekend and I adored seeing all of our dogs having fun and showing their little hearts out in the ring.

Saturday, January 3rd, 2026:

•Show 1 under Judge Mrs. Gayle M. Denman
- 🎖BOB, 🥈FSS Group 2

•Show 2 under Judge Ms. Paullet DeLong
-🎖BOB, 🥇Best in FSS/FSS Group 1 (2 Points earned!)

Sunday, January 4th, 2026:

•Show 1 under Judge Ms. Angela Stevanus
-🎖BOB, 🥇Best in FSS/FSS Group 1, 🏅Best in Open Show! (3 Points earned!)

•Show 2 under Judge Mr. Shawn Nichols
-🎖BOB, 🥇Best in FSS/FSS Group 1, 🏅Best in Open Show! (3 Points earned!)

Monday, January 5th, 2026:

•Show 1 under Judge Ms. Michelle T. Shultz
-🎖BOB, 🥇Best in FSS/FSS Group 1, 🏅Best in Open Show! (2 Points earned!)

•Show 2 under Judge Mrs. Frances Conner
-🎖BOB, 🥇Best in FSS/FSS Group 1, 🏅Best in Open Show! (2 Points earned!)

Sakura began this show weekend at 32/45 points towards her CM3. She earned 12, putting her at 44/45 points and is now just one point shy of her CM3!

I am so proud of this girl. She will be 5 in just 11 days, and she just keeps aging like a very fine wine!

Thank you to her breeder Yokota-san, Okazaki-san, and to her co-owner Akiyama no Roushya for giving me the opportunity to be head over heels for this lovely girl. I will forever be grateful Sakura is in my life! 🥰 The judges pretty much were all commenting on her lovely topline and headpiece, as well as having great angulation with great reach & drive!

🌸AKC MBIOS UKC MRBIS AKC/UKC Multi-Group Placing UCH UWP Katsuichime go Tomoe CM2 FDC CA DCAT RATI RATN CGC ATT TKI VHMA VSWB FITB LCC LCI VCX EXC "Sakura" 🌸

12/29/2025

I think it is important to talk about the Kishu Ken temperament and some of the misinformation I have seen recently.

Google AI is not accurate to the breed standard. Using Google AI as your research and knowledge about the breed is not a valid source of information.

-Kishu Ken are a primitive-esque or aboriginal spitz hound bred to hunt boar or deer.
>This is correct. However, they are also great companions.

-Kishu Ken are extremely high drive with high, unmanageable prey drive.
>While true Kishu Ken can be high energy, they are nothing comparable to a Belgian Malinois or another breed bred to have insane levels of energy and drive to work-work-work constantly. That would be unrealistic to expect in a Kishu Ken. Sure, there are some individuals that trend on a higher energy level, and yes, they have owners that are avid runners and run daily with them. This is not the majority of Kishu Ken. Most dogs in the breed would be happy to run-run-run given the opportunity, but vigorous activity is not the end-all-be-all. You should be doing more mental stimulation with a Kishu Ken than soley running them. Running miles and miles each and every day is fine and perfectly acceptable if you want a dog with high endurance to run daily with you! However, even trick training for just 5-20 minutes a day is acceptable, along with hiking occasionally and daily walks. They can be an excellent weekend warrior dog with a fairly innate off-switch while in the home. The breed can absolutely also have high prey drive, but this does not mean it is unmanageable. It is unmanageable if you do absolutely zero training with your dog. I also would not expect an adult Kishu Ken who has never lived with small animals or cats to innately be good with them. Dogs raised with small animals or cats and trained to respect those animals should absolutely be able to co-exist and be a safe housemate to them.

-Kishu Ken are bad with people and Kids.
>This is another false statement. The breed is given the nickname "Kiss-You Ken" for a reason, after all! Most Kishu are more than happy to give you kisses when you say hi and meet them. While the breed does range from aloof or indifferent to strangers to being totally outgoing with strangers, a good amount of Kishu Ken trend towards the latter of being outgoing. Aloof, indifferent or reserved does not mean the dog is aggressive with people, nor should they be aggressive with people. Kishu Ken who have not been raised around children can also be fabulous with them, and notoriously like to give their Kishu kisses.

-Kishu Ken are not biddable or handler oriented.
>Kishu Ken are actually quite biddable, as well as handler oriented. They love to learn new things with their handlers or people, and are even happy to work with total strangers! Now Kishu Ken are not going to be a Belgian Malinois as established earlier in this post. So while they are handler oriented and biddable, they are not IGP dogs that snap to the position or trick you ask of them mid-run.

•For reputable sources for more information about the breed:

-https://www.nihonken-hozonkai.or.jp/en/

- https://www.kishuclub.com/

11/28/2025

Happy 6th birthday 🎂 to Kaede 🍁 and his siblings Oisín, Teddy, and Sho from Akiyama no Roushya Litter 5 🫶🏻 I still cannot believe it has been 6 years since my sweet boy was born.

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃

11/03/2025

Another show in the books 🫶🏻 the Western Doggy Round-up 🤠 Attire was western-themed, of course! Saturday was Sakura's day, and Sunday was Raikou's 💕 It was actually pretty nice not having to juggle dogs for once.

Saturday:
🌸 AKC MBIOS UKC MRBIS AKC/UKC Multi-Group Placing UCH UWP Katsuichime go Tomoe CM2 FDC CA DCAT RATI RATN ATT TKI VHMA VSWB FITB LCC LCI VCX EXC 🌸
Show 1- Best of Breed, Group 3 under Judge Ms. Linda Whisenhunt.

Show 2- Best of Breed, Group 4 under Judge Mr. Adrian Quesada.

Sunday:
⚡️AKC BIOS AKC CM Pointed Kaminari go Aoiyama Sou ⚡️
Show 1- Best of Opposite under Judge Mr. Tim Robison.

Show 2- Best of Opposite under Judge Ms. Pam Henson.

And of course a FSS/MISC group photo post Show 2 today 🫶🏻

11/03/2025

Some available Kishu & Shikoku 🫶🏻

I currently have several dogs available to retired pet homes and/or co-own homes including 3 Kishu Ken and 1 Shikoku Ken. They range from just over 1 year to just over 8 years old. All dogs are located on the west coast.

Here's another reminder of one of our returned available girls, Ada, who is currently just under 8 years old, spayed, and ready for her forever home.

Ada has been working on her obedience with distance/distraction/duration and can now be trusted to hold her stay for for her outdoor modeling work. 😂 She is also still searching for her home. If you know anyone who needs a good companion dog and doesn't want to deal with the training and socializing of a young dog, Ada is a great fit for many families - including apartments with an owner who wants to give her the exercise she needs.

No cats, no very small children.
Dog savvy dogs okay with a meet and greet and integration plan.
Male dogs preferred if other dogs are present in the household.
Oregon City, OR

I am also interested in finding her a foster with fewer dogs if you aren't sure if you want to adopt but are local and want to help Ada find her forever home.

10/27/2025

We attended the Lake Perris shows this weekend! While I did not show Sakura this weekend, noodle boy Raikou did get to play show dog this weekend and went Best of Opposite both shows, though he didn't have any male competition. But thats okay, we do this to have fun and see our FSS & MISC friends mainly anyways (peep our post-show group photo!) 🫶🏻

Raikou is 5/15 points to his CM still.

- ⚡️AKC BIOS AKC CM Pointed Kaminari go Aoiyama Sou ⚡️

And pending AKC confirmation... 🌸Sakura🌸 earned her second new title this weekend and earned her DCAT today too 😍!

-🌸AKC MBIOS UKC MRBIS AKC/UKC Multi-Group Placing UCH UWP Katsuichime go Tomoe CM2 FDC CA **DCAT** RATI RATN CGC ATT TKI VHMA VSWB FITB LCC LCI VCX EXC🌸

🍁Kaede🍁 also got to do 2 FCAT runs today, though I managed not to snag any photos of him haha. He is slowly chipping away at that FCAT title currently 🫶🏻

-🍁AKC/UKC Multi-Group Placing UCH Akiyama no Roushya Koujiro go CM CAA DCAT RATI ATT TKI VCX EXC 🍁

We tried FCAT with Raikou too. But after 6 runs, it's just not his thing, so we will look for sports outside of lure coursing for this goofy noodle boy 🫶🏻

10/26/2025

Pending AKC confirmation, Sakura earned her Farm Dog title today at Lake Perris! She will also hopefully have her DCAT after tomorrow too 🥰

AKC MBIOS UKC MRBIS AKC/UKC Multi-Group Placing UCH UWP Katsuichime go Tomoe CM2 ** FDC** CA BCAT RATI RATN CGC ATT TKI VHMA VSWB FITB LCC LCI VCX EXC

09/15/2025

Sakura is all about chasing that "bunny" 🐰

Sakura is at 415.68/500 points towards her DCAT 🫶🏻 Hopefully end of October she can snag that next title 😊

AKC MBIOS UKC MRBIS AKC/UKC MGP UCH UWP Katsuichime go Tomoe CM2 CA BCAT RATI RATN CGC ATT TKI VHMA VSWB FITB LCC LCI VCX EXC

09/05/2025

🫶🏻 Ask all the questions you may have about the breed!!

🌟 What questions or inquiries do you have about the Kishu Ken breed? 🌟

❓ We would love to start a weekly feature to answer any questions you may have about the breed with an in-depth posted answer every Friday!

Comment below with any questions you have been itching to have answered about in regards to Kishu Ken! 🫶🏻 Energy level, health issues and health testing, temperament, favorite activities, coat colors, our favorite things about our dogs and the breed-- we are here for them all! 🥰🎉