Item number: M548

Year: AD 1920-1945

Material: Aluminum

Size: 30 x 30 x 1.4 mm

Weight: 3.7 g

Manufactured by:

Provenance: Private Collector, Taiwan 2026

This is a Japanese canine licence tag (chikuken kansatsu), functioning as an official registration badge for domestic dogs.

The tag is circular in form. In the centre of the obverse, the kanji characters for “Canine Licence Tag” (畜犬鑑札) are arranged vertically, flanked on either side by vertical inscriptions reading “No. 6514” (第六五一四號) and “Hsinchu Prefecture” (新竹州). A perforation is positioned at the top for suspension, whilst the reverse is entirely uniface and flat.

In the late nineteenth century, with the introduction of modern concepts of public health and epidemiology, canines were bifurcated into legally regulated “domestic dogs” and “feral dogs”, the latter of which were perceived as vectors of contagion and public nuisances. As early as the sixth year of the Meiji era (AD 1873), the Tokyo Prefectural Government enacted the Canine Control Regulations (Chikuken Kisoku) to combat rabies, stipulating that domestic dogs must wear collars inscribed with the owner’s name and address, whereas uncollared animals were deemed feral and subject to culling. Following the Japanese acquisition of Taiwan in AD 1895, the first Governor-General, Kabayama Sukenori, was surrounded by a pack of dogs in the city streets shortly after his arrival, prompting the colonial authorities to elevate the control of stray dogs into an urgent issue of administrative governance and public order. From the late AD 1890s onwards, large-scale culling programmes were launched successively in urban centres such as Taipei; from AD 1901, various local prefectural administrations formally transplanted the Japanese legal framework, promulgating successive Domestic Dog Control Regulations (Shiken Torishimari Kisoku) and establishing the binary principle that “dogs without identification are feral, and feral dogs shall be culled”. In practice, however, dog catchers were frequently motivated by the illicit and lucrative trade in canine skins and meat, resulting in the widespread and indiscriminate slaughter of collared domestic pets as well.

Concurrently, epidemic prevention technologies advanced steadily following the development of the human rabies vaccine by the French biologist Louis Pasteur and his colleagues in AD 1885, with metropolitan Japan acquiring autonomous vaccine production capabilities no later than AD 1899. Commencing in the fortieth year of the Meiji era (AD 1907), the colonial authorities in Taiwan upgraded the identification standard from privately made wooden tallies to officially issued “canine licence tags” (chikuken kansatsu), subsequently mandating that the procurement of tags be coupled with compulsory rabies vaccinations and administrative fees, thereby transforming dog ownership into an activity affordable almost exclusively by the affluent classes. Following the full-scale outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in AD 1937, acute material shortages and the state-sponsored rice-conservation campaign prompted the imposition of a heavy “canine tax” (chikuken-zei), alongside a prevailing social discourse advocating the “abolition of domestic dogs” on the grounds that they squandered vital food supplies. By AD 1944, this sentiment intensified into the semi-compulsory “Canine Donation Movement” (Chikuken Kennō Undō); domestic dogs previously shielded by registration tags could no longer escape destruction and were systematically requisitioned as wartime resources to supply military leather, fertiliser, and meat.

物件編號: M548

年代: 公元 1920-1945 年

材質: 鋁

尺寸: 30 x 30 x 1.4 mm

重量: 3.7 g

來源: 台灣私人收藏 2026

這是一枚日本的畜犬鑑札，即犬隻的飼養登記證章。

章體呈圓形。正面中央豎列漢字「畜犬鑑札」，左右豎列「第六五一四號 / 新竹州」。上方有一穿孔以供懸掛，背面光平。

十九世紀末，隨著近代公共衛生與流行病學觀念的引進，犬隻被區分為合法納管的「家犬」與散播疫情、製造公害的「野犬」。早在明治六年(公元1873年)，日本東京府便為防治狂犬病頒布〈畜犬規則〉(蓄犬規則)，明定家犬須配戴載有飼主姓名與地址的項圈，無標誌者則視同野犬撲殺。公元1895年日本領臺後，首任總督樺山資紀甫抵臺即於市街遭群犬包圍，促使殖民當局將流浪犬管制升級為治理與治安議題。公元1890年代末起，臺北等市街陸續展開大規模撲殺；公元1901年起各地方廳更正式移植日本法制，相繼公布〈飼犬取締規則〉，確立「無牌即野犬、野犬即撲殺」的二元原則。然而在執行層面，捕犬人常受私賣犬皮、犬肉的暴利誘使，導致配戴項圈的家犬亦頻遭濫殺。

與此同時，防疫技術隨法國巴斯德於公元1885年研製人用狂犬病疫苗、日本本土於公元1899年具備製備能力而逐步成形。明治四十年(公元1907年)起，臺灣總督府當局將辨識標準由民間自製木牌提升為官方核發的「畜犬鑑札」，後續更將領牌與狂犬病預防注射、規費強制連動，使養犬逐漸轉變為富裕階層方能負擔的活動。公元1937年中日戰爭全面爆發後，在物資匱乏與節米運動下，官方開徵高額「畜犬稅」，社會更掀起指責家犬耗糧的「畜犬廢止論」；至公元1944年，此論進一步激化為半強迫的「畜犬獻納運動」，原本受鑑札保護的家犬亦難逃撲殺，被徵收為軍用皮革、肥料與肉品等戰爭資源。