Dosanko
The Dosanko is a Japanese breed of small horse. It is one of eight extant indigenous horse breeds of Japan, and the only one of them not critically endangered. It originated on the island of Hokkaido, in the far north of the country, and is found particularly along the Pacific coast of the island. The people of Hokkaido may be nicknamed "Dosanko" after the horses.
History
Japanese horses are thought to derive from stock brought at several different times from various parts of the Asian mainland; the first such importations took place by the sixth century at the latest. Horses were used for farming – as pack-animals although not for draught power; until the advent of firearms in the later sixteenth century, they were much used for warfare. The horses were not large: remains of some 130 horses have been excavated from battlefields dating to the Kamakura period ; they ranged from in height at the withers.The Dosanko is thought to derive from horses brought to the island from the Tōhoku region of north-eastern Honshu in the late Tokugawa period, and abandoned there.
Total numbers of the breed grew from 1180 in 1973 to almost 3000 head in the early 1990s, but by the year 2000 had fallen to 1950 horses. A herd-book was established in 1979. Hokkaido University receives a grant to study conservation measures for the breed.
The conservation status of the Dosanko was listed by the Food and [Agriculture Organization of the United Nations] as "not at risk" in 2007. Population data has not been reported to DAD-IS since 2008, when there were horses, and in 2025 the conservation status of the breed was not known.