Draft:Taiki Inu

• Comment: Sources are not independant and are not reliable. ~/Bunnypranav:<ping> 14:53, 28 June 2025 (UTC)

---

This page is about the Shiba Inu dog. For the cryptocurrency token based on him, see TAIKI INU (cryptocurrency).

Taiki Inu (Japanese: タイキ犬, Taiki-ken or commonly, タイキくん Taiki-kun in Japanese discussions) was a male Shiba Inu dog who gained significant early online popularity, particularly through an iconic photograph taken in 2008 that became widely used to represent the Shiba Inu breed on the Internet. He is recognized as a precursor to the global Doge meme phenomenon, which emerged years later.

Origins and Early Life

Taiki was a Shiba Inu born on July 1, 2007, in Italy. He was owned by Italian photographer Roberto Vasarri, who resided in the Chianti region of Tuscany. Vasarri documented Taiki's life through personal photos and videos, including a YouTube video titled "Shiba inu dog e snow" showing Taiki playing in the snow. Taiki passed away on October 30, 2023, living to be approximately 16 years old.

The Emblematic 2008 Photograph

A Shiba Inu photographed in Italy in 2008 (Taiki).

Taiki's rise to internet fame is primarily attributed to a photograph taken by Roberto Vasarri on November 1, 2008. This portrait, captured with a Nikon D700 camera, was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by Vasarri in January 2009. Crucially, Vasarri released the image into the public domain, allowing its unrestricted and widespread use. The file, named Shiba inu taiki.jpg, has an original resolution of $2175 \times 2563$ pixels. The high quality and free license of this photograph led to its extensive reuse across various websites, blogs, and articles as an illustration for the Shiba Inu breed. By 2009, it was featured in Wikipedia articles about the Shiba Inu, including the French Wikipedia, where the caption specified "Un Shiba Inu photographié en Italie en 2008".

Taiki, a Shiba Inu against a red background, another photograph by Vasarri (2008).

Vasarri shared other images of Taiki on Wikimedia Commons in 2008, such as Shibared.jpg (a Shiba Inu against a red background) in August 2008 and Shibasnowtaiki.jpg (Taiki playing in the snow) in late December 2008. These images, along with the main November 2008 photo, were published under a free license and contributed to Taiki becoming a visual reference for the Shiba Inu breed online during the late 2000s.

Online Popularity and Comparison to Doge (Kabosu)

Taiki playing in the snow, captured in late 2008 by Roberto Vasarri.

Taiki is sometimes referred to as "the first Shiba Inu of the Internet," predating the more widely known Doge meme, which features the Japanese Shiba Inu, Kabosu. Kabosu's iconic photograph was taken in 2010 and only achieved viral status around 2013, whereas Taiki's image circulated online as early as 2008-2009, two years before Kabosu's photo was taken. Taiki's online presence even predates the initial rise of Bitcoin, which launched in 2009. While Kabosu is undeniably the central figure of the Doge meme, Taiki's contribution to web culture is significant, albeit more subtle. Internet meme historians and observers note that Taiki's influence is deeply embedded in the history of Internet memes, often without explicit credit. His photograph served as a visual "model" or inspiration for numerous online uses of the Shiba Inu before the "Doge" name existed. One article describes Taiki as "a silent architect of meme culture," and potentially the first Shiba Inu to go viral on the Internet. The early popularity of Taiki's 2008 photo is evident in its widespread use across image banks, Internet forums, and articles in the years following its release. Several international Wikipedia pages dedicated to the Doge meme subtly featured Taiki's image. For instance, the Simple English Wikipedia, Italian Wikipedia, and French Wikipedia versions of the "Doge (meme)" article long included an illustration of a Shiba Inu that was, in fact, Taiki, often without naming him, referring to him as "the meme dog it is inspired by". In 2016, the online media outlet Telegrafi used Taiki's photo with the caption "The meme-dog that inspired it" when discussing Dogecoin, mistaking Taiki for the inspiration behind the Dogecoin logo. This demonstrates that Taiki's image was frequently confused with Doge iconography and used in place of Kabosu, partly due to its free-use license and its strong representation of the breed. In this sense, Taiki can be considered a visual precursor to the Doge phenomenon.

Documented Appearances and Cultural Impact

The earliest verifiable appearance of Taiki's photo on the Web dates to its upload on Wikimedia Commons on January 25, 2009, by his owner, Rvasarri (Roberto Vasarri), to illustrate Shiba Inu articles on Wikipedia. Its free license quickly led to its dissemination on numerous websites and blogs. The French Wikipedia used it for its "Shiba (chien)" article, the Italian Wikipedia integrated it into its Shiba article, and the Japanese Wikipedia displayed it in its breed gallery, sparking curiosity among some Internet users about the dog's identity. In 2020, contributors even created a Spanish Doge meme by editing Taiki's photo (with the characteristic multicolored Comic Sans) and uploaded it to Wikimedia Commons. This meme version, featuring Taiki with humorous phrases like "wow. much meme. very doge.", was used to illustrate the Doge concept on some pages and circulated in articles discussing cryptocurrency and Internet memes. Information about Taiki's name and biographical details has only recently been explicitly documented in some primary sources outside of Wikimedia. In May 2024, a participant on a Japanese forum revealed Taiki's details (name, birth, and death dates), citing Wikipedia and linking to the photo, indicating their discovery that "the Shiba Inu featured on the Wikipedia page is named Taiki". The Japanese community showed intrigue upon learning that an Italian Shiba Inu had influenced global web culture related to "doges". The broader cultural impact of the Shiba Inu breed on the Internet has been studied academically. Jamie Cohen, for example, notes that Shiba Inus have maintained a significant online presence since at least 2010, which encompasses the transition from Taiki's early influence to the Doge era.

Roberto Vasarri's Role

Roberto Vasarri, Taiki's owner and the photographer, was instrumental in the image's dissemination. By publishing high-quality photos under a free license, he inadvertently made Taiki a universal reference. Vasarri is consistently credited as the author of the photo on reproductions, including Wikimedia Commons and various media outlets. He later acknowledged Taiki's significance, calling him an "Internet star" in a social media post in 2015. Following the explosion of cryptocurrencies meme inspired by Doge, Vasarri was reconnected with members of the crypto community, who confirmed his interest in preserving Taiki's story. Recently, the enthusiasm for Taiki has led to the creation of a commemorative cryptocurrency project (TAIKI token). This project aims to pay "homage to one of the oldest Shiba Inu images on the Internet," specifically Vasarri's 2008 photo of Taiki. While a contemporary community initiative, it has brought verifiable facts about Taiki to light and helped preserve the memory of a dog who unknowingly impacted the meme landscape. As one article summarized, "Before Doge, there was Taiki," emphasizing Taiki Inu's place in Internet history as a precursor to the online "Shiba-mania".

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to File:Shiba inu taiki.jpg.

• "Shiba inu dog e snow" on YouTube
• "Taiki the Original Shiba That Preceded Doge" on Binance Square
• Roberto Vasarri's Twitter post mentioning Taiki as an "Internet star"

Category:Dogs Category:Internet memes Category:Internet phenomena Category:Shiba Inu Category:2007 animal births Category:2023 animal deaths Category:Dogs in popular culture