Everyone knows dogs are loyal.
Author Martha Sherrill's new book describes the loyalty of one particular breed, the Akita.
When a Tokyo University professor died in the 1920s, his Akita, Hachiko, appeared at the train station at 4 p.m. every day for nine years, waiting for the professor to appear.
This story will be a movie in the fall starring Richard Gere called "Hachiko: A Dog Story."
"It's a true story," Sherrill said about the Akita. "There's a statue of the dog in Tokyo. It was melted down (during the war), and a new one was erected after the war. It's very famous as a meeting place in Tokyo."
Sherrill mentions Hachiko in her riveting book, "Dog Man: An Uncommon Life on a Faraway Mountain" (Riverhead Books, $16). This is the story of Morie Sawataishi, an imposing guy who became obsessed with preventing the extinction of the Akita, a mountain and hunting dog.
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At the end of World War II, only 16 Akitas were left in Japan. To save the 4,000-year-old breed, Morie (pronounced "more-ee-ay") broke the law, gave up a prestigious job and chose to take his city-loving wife, Kitako, to Japan's unforgiving snow country to start a family and devote himself to saving the Akita.
"He was 30 years old and had never had a dog," said Sherrill, 50. "He was overcome with this idea that he could have an Akita puppy and hide it during the war.
"He spent six months of his salary on the dog. He had to confess to his wife. It ended up completely changing everything in his life — it gave his entire life meaning. You can't say he single-handedly saved the breed, but he was instrumental in setting up a network of people in the snow country of Japan," she said.
Sherrill, a former general-assignment feature writer for The Washington Post, left the newspaper about 10 years ago to concentrate on writing books. She has published four. Her work can be seen at www.marthasherrill.com.
"I was always aspiring to do something more meaningful," said Sherrill, who has been married for 12 years and has an 11-year-old son.
About five years ago, she and her husband bought a Cape Cod house on a few acres in Cape Cod, Mass., where it's a 10-minute walk to the Atlantic.
Sherrill is currently working on a book about the town dump.
"It's a memoir about moving to a small town," she said. "It's a very nice dump — it's pristine, and it has a swap shop. It's a New England tradition to have a shack on the grounds. I'm a volunteer there."
Sherrill wrote "Dog Man" in 18 months, which included three trips to Japan.
Morie's youngest son, Mamoru, lives in New York City and helped Sherrill with her research. A Japanese version of "Dog Man" is coming out later this year.
"If Morie were still alive, he would say he got so much more back from (the Akitas)," Sherrill said. "He's more of a dog person than a people person. They really made his whole life."
We recently spoke to Sherrill by phone about her newest book.
Are you a dog person?
"I love dogs, and I'm great with animals. I have a dog, a Brittany (spaniel).
"I think (Akitas) are magnificent creatures. I can separate my admiration from my need to have one. We're devoted to our hamster and two cats."
Tell me about Akitas.
"They're very big, woolly dogs, with bearlike, broad heads. They're 100-plus pounds, and their fur looks like they have 10 times more fur than any other dog. They're very quiet, and they're very coordinated in a way that's almost catlike. They're extra aware.
"They're not a beginner dog, because they're super-protective. They're a really rugged dog; they need a lot of exercise.
"It takes a special person."
Is Morie still alive?
"He died last October. He was living in the city with another daughter, and he was beyond miserable. He had to evacuate because of an earthquake that damaged his house.
"When I heard he had sent his last two Akitas to the north, I figured he didn't want to live any longer. He was 92."
The way the story went, I kept thinking Kitako and Morie were going to split up.
"She thought they were, too. It's amazing, isn't it? There's a number of stories of devotion in the book.
"As much as Morie had a passion for the dogs, she had a passion for the family and keeping things together. At the same time, she's really proud of what he did."
Should "Dog Man" become a movie?
"I think it'd be a great movie. It's a timeless story. We're all so spoiled and have a tendency to pursue the easy life — it's nice to be reminded that you can devote yourself to something and make a difference."
