Abstract
This study examines how the once widely used term“yamainu”has been historically interpreted and how it ultimately converged into the concept of the“Japanese wolf.”Drawing on ４０４ sources from the National Diet Library and other archives, the study categorized interpretations into four discourse types：（１）wolves in Japan,（２）feral dogs,（３）wolfdog hybrids, and（４）neither wolf nor dog origin. Information was further divided into three periods： the introduction of honzōgaku（materia medica）, the adoption of the Linnaean system, and the rise of morphological research. Although the results indicated the coexistence of inconsistent discourse over time, all were shaped by foreign bodies of knowledge and the activities of the Japanese Dog Preservation Society. As the term“yamainu”was gradually replaced by“Japanese wolf,”interpretations increasingly focused on wolves, leading to the disappearance of yamainu from academic materials. The adoption of the term“Japanese wolf”thus represented a movement away from yamainu’shistoric multiple meanings to a more modern focus on wolf like aspects.
