Japanese Onagadori and Other Longtailed Fowl
of Japan
     Japan imported it's longtailed fowl from China (Ho, Southern China, Current Korea). These were shokoku and totenko. Once they had reached Japan, the beginning of the Edo period and its isolationist policies, the longtailed fowls developed in unique ways in Japan, through isolation and cross breeding.
      The center of longtail breeding in Japan was on Shikoku Island, with Tosa and Kochi being the home of the famous onagadori, as pictured to the left. There is a special culture which has developed around these onagadori. They are a combination of genes and environment, and can only be produced with the use of the restrictive rearing of the chosen males. The special cage needed for this is called tombaku.
      There are several other well known Japanese Longtail breeds. These include ohiki, minohiki, satsuma-dori, kurekashiwa, tomaru, and others.
      Currently, only ohiki and tomaru exist in the US. Several others can be found in Europe. There are descendants of onagadori in the US, known as proto-onagadori.
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