The Yakido ( ja, 八木戸鶏) is a Japanese

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

of fighting chicken. It belongs to the

Shamo Shamo may refer to: ;People * Shamo Abbey (born 1980), Ghanaian football forward * Shamo Quaye (1971–1997), Ghanaian football player * Ihor Shamo, (1925–1982), Ukrainian composer ;Other * Shāmò, a generic Chinese term for deserts. * Shamo ...

group of breeds. It was bred in the

Kansai The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshu, Honshū. The region includes the Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Nara Prefecture, Nara, Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto, Osaka Prefectur ...

region in southern

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...

in the mid-nineteenth century. It was made a

Natural Monument of Japan To protect Japan's cultural heritage, the country's government selects through the Agency for Cultural Affairs important items and designates them as Cultural Properties under the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties. Designated items ar ...

in 1950.

History

The Yakido derives from the

group of fighting chicken breeds, which are thought to descend from birds of

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

type brought from Thailand in the early part of the seventeenth century, during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

. The Yakido was bred in

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

, in

region in southern

, in the mid-nineteenth century, in the late Edo period. It was made a

under law 214 of 30 May 1950.

Characteristics

The Yakido is a small bird of

gamecock A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or ente ...

type. It is muscular and strong, and stands very upright. It has hard, close feathers, and holds its wings close to the body. It is found in only one colour, black. The

beak The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food ...

and legs are yellow, sometimes with black markings. The

comb A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating ba ...

is triple. The Yakido is intermediate in weight between standard-sized and bantam chickens. In the United Kingdom, but not in Germany, it is considered a bantam.

Use

The Yakido was created as a

sparring Sparring is a form of training common to many combat sports. Although the precise form varies, it is essentially relatively ' free-form' fighting, with enough rules, customs, or agreements to minimize injuries. By extension, argumentative debate ...

-partner for larger fighting-cocks. Hens lay about 80 cream-coloured or brown eggs per year; egg weight is about This breed is used in creating Kumano Jidori(F3 hybrid used for meat production) as one of great-grandfathers.

References

{{Chicken breeds of Japan Natural monuments of Japan Chicken breeds originating in Japan Chicken breeds Bantam chicken breeds