History and origin of the Japanese bantam.
It is believed that the ancestors to the Japanese bantam arrived in Japan from mainland China in around 1600 as this is when the chicken started to appear in Japanese art.
Some have this movement as early as the 7th century but there are no records or cultural evidence to support this.
The Japanese bantam, also known as Chabo meaning Dwarf in Japanese Kanji, is a chicken of remarkable beauty.
The actual origin of the Japanese bantam or Chabo is unknown but DNA evidence shows it has been selectively from bred from ancient fighting breeds of chickens which looked much like modern Shamo breeds.
What is now the Japanese bantam may have originated in Indo-China (Vietnam) about 300-400 years ago, possibly even earlier. It was then imported to Japan by Dutch spice traders who brought the Chabo to trade or as gifts to Japan.
Fowls with squirrel tails, related to the Chabo, are found in Vietnam.
The word "chabo" originates in Java as chabol, where it means "dwarf" and applies both to humans, and to the short-legged Chabo chicken.
The Japanese writer Choken Inagaki writes in his book "The Chabo and breeding" in 1951, that there are bantams in Indo-China, very similar to the Chabo and he shows on drawings from Bangkok and Singapore that these animals stand almost upright.
Japanese bantams were first imported into the UK in around 1860, In his book, Bantams, written in 1894 he noted that:
" It is about thirty years since the first pens of these birds were imported into England, and they were of the well known Dark-tailed, White-bodied variety,most frequently met at our leading shows."
Below: An artists drawing of Japanese bantams in 1894.
Japanese bantam history timeline:
- 1600 - Japanese bantam or Chabo arrived in Japan.
- 1660 - A Japanese bantam appears in Portrait of Jacoba Maria van Wassenaer by Jan Steen.
- 1860 - Japanese bantam arrived in the UK.
- 1865 - First documented imports of Japanese bantams into the US.
- 1867 - Japanese bantam first included in a UK poultry book.
- 1874 - The Japanese Bantam was admitted into the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection
- 12th November 1912 - First Japanese bantam club formed in London.
- 1937 - The International Chabo Bantam Club was formed at a meeting in Switzerland.
- 1946 - Japanese bantam club merged with Frizzle club.
- 1961 - Japanese Bantam Club of Great Britain was formed.
It seems that the Japanese bantam was effectively bred to be a living ornament well suited to the distinctive Japanese style of gardening.
Below: The Yellow black-tailed Chabo cock on Jan Steen's painting "De Hoenderhof", or "The poultry yard", dating from 1660.
