Kabosu, the Shiba Inu dog whose “awesome” face spawned one of the iconic memes of the past decade and helped inspire the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, died on Friday. She was 18 years old.
The dog's owner, Atsuko Sato, said on social media that it “crossed the Rainbow Bridge” on Friday, adding that it had not suffered and had died while Sato was petting it. Sato said in an email on Friday that the dog had died at its home in Sakura city, eastern Tokyo.
In the animal pantheon, Kabosu's sudden rise from an ordinary dog ​​to a global meme dog can only be described as “amazing.” After being sent to an animal shelter along with other Shiba Inu dogs after her breeder went out of business, Kabosu was adopted by a kindergarten teacher named Sato in 2008. Sato began posting photos of Kabosu having fun at home on her blog.
But a 2010 photo of Kavos went viral: her eyebrows raised and a Rorschach-test-like expression could be read as knowing, mischievous or amused, and her round head quickly became one of the most recognizable faces of the Doge meme.
What began as her online followers peppering photos of her face with text in the oft-derided Comic Sans font and grammatically incorrect two-word phrases became their own language, a way of communicating their reactions to nearly any situation. (Woke! Scary! Awesome!)
Kabosu's image, along with other Shiba Inu dogs, was cut and remixed for jokes that ranged from relatable to nonsensical, eventually spawning its own spin-off memes. Nicolas Cage's face was Photoshopped onto Kabosu's body. Kabosu's body was Photoshopped onto bread. Lawmakers followed suit, using Doge to air their displeasure. (Another Shiba Inu, Suki, was also the source of a Doge meme after a photo of her gazing into the distance wearing a shrunken scarf went viral, according to The Verge's history of the meme.)
Her likeness then moved into the crypto sphere, appearing in the logo for Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency coin introduced as a joke in 2013. The meme coin has skyrocketed in 2021 before falling, making some investors millionaires overnight.
Whether or not Kabosu is aware of her popularity, she doesn't seem to mind the attention, and Sato-san says Kabosu has a quiet personality, which is unusual for a Shiba Inu.
“He's very docile and gentle and loves having his picture taken,” Sato told The Verge in a 2013 interview. One volunteer was so impressed by the dog's round face that they named him after the Japanese citrus fruit of the same name. “We thought the name was perfect, so we kept it,” Sato said.
The Shiba Inu had been in poor health in recent years, and Sato said that in 2022 it was diagnosed with chronic lymphoma leukemia, a type of cancer, and acute cholangiohepatitis, which causes inflammation in the liver and surrounding areas.
Her life was the subject of online interest for over 500,000 followers, and she lived with three other cats. Her birthday, 2 November, was celebrated by many as “Doge's Day”.
“She wasn't loved when she was little, so we want to give her love and affection as a member of the family,” Sato told The Verge in 2013. A farewell party for Kabosu is planned for Sunday in Narita.
“I am certain Kabosu was the happiest dog in the world,” she wrote on Friday.
