Fionnuala (Akiyama no Roushya Kokuchou go) had a full weekend of dog shows.
She earned:

• Best of Breed (all 4 shows)
• Show 1: Bred By Group 2, Open Group 3 (Judge: Mr. Stanley Matsumoto - INT & USA)
• Show 2: no group placement (Judge: Ms. Rhonda Silveira - USA)
• Show 3: Bred By Group 3 (Judge: Ms. Juliann Bitter - INT & USA)
• Show 4: Bred By Group 3 (Judge: Mr. Grant Townsend - CAN)
• Rare Breed Show: Reserve Best in Show! (Judges: Mr. Stanley Matsumoto & Ms. Juliann Bitter)

Her rating for every show was V-1, the highest rating. Verbal critiques were that she could use a bit more chest (chest drop may happen with age, as Kishu are quite late to mature, but her sire lacks some chest) and she could use a little more weight (My Kishu are all a bit lean, and this is a comment I hear somewhat regularly in conformation.) I have included our written critiques.

This means I can now apply for her new title, IntCH!
RBIS IntCH Akiyama no Roushya Kokuchou go.

Fionnuala is the first dog of her breed to compete in the IABCA (which was a surprise to me, due to Kishu Ken-nel's early involvement in conformation) and so she is the first Kishu Ken to earn this title.
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Thank you to our friend & photographer Gauzong Yang for the photos.

There is a strong selection toward natural breeding in the Japanese dogs. This has been done for centuries and I respect the process, the people who bred these dogs before me, and I desire to keep them as natural as possible. So I, too, select for natural breeding. This means I will not breed a dog who cannot breed naturally for reasons of their physiology or behavior. I will not restrain a bitch to make them stand for breeding. I might consider AI on already proven dogs but I would not do it on an unproven individual.

That to say...

This litter was originally supposed to be sired by Toutarou, but after many attempts to warm Fionnuala up to Toutarou, and Toutarou doing everything "correct" to be polite and courteous, I changed my plans back to the FIRST plans for Fionnuala and Jason. Jason and Fionnuala get along very well and are complimentary in more ways than one. The reason Toutarou was selected was because I was hoping I could produce one more "keeper" out of him, and I wanted to attempt to create individuals slightly inbred on their common ancestors with the idea that those puppies may grow up to have more breeding options available to them (more outcrosses by pedigree and genetic information.)

Things fall the way they do sometimes, and I trust my dogs.

I got the first Jason x Fionnuala tie yesterday, on Tuesday, and will try for a few more while Fionnuala is still receptive. Due to her aggression towards Toutarou, I am uncertain if I will attempt to see if she becomes receptive to Toutarou later and produce another potentially dual-sired litter.

If all goes well, we will have an ultrasound mid-November and if there are puppies observed, I am anticipating mid-late December pups.

Fionnuala can only contribute red or sesame, and Jason can only contribute white or sesame. I am expecting only sesame puppies from this litter.

These puppies will be eligible for NIPPO and AKC-FSS registration.

I do have a wait list for any puppies born but if you are interested and have not yet put in your application, please do so now by clicking the link.

Shigeru Kato, who is the driving force behind 4 of my 5 Kishu Ken imports (he helped secure and export Nami, Toutarou, and Reiko - and he did the same for Jason's parents in Finland), a huge asset to the Nihon Ken community, and combating misinformation on these breeds, has taken up another project to develop a Kishu and Kai Ken pedigree database using the same system he has for the Shikoku Ken.

This database is extremely useful in searching common ancestors and his location, skill, labor, and connections may help him enter more dogs than we could hope to do on our limited pedigree generations.

Please read about the project, and if you have wanted to help the Kishu Ken in the past, but didn't know how, consider donating even a dollar or three to Shigeru's hard work.
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Going forward, because I think funding this project and seeing it done will help all Kishu Ken breeders and owners, I will accept an equivalent donation to this project for a portion of a holding fee for my wait list.