CHIBI

The CHIBI is reputedly the smallest Shamoid breed, but a distinct form and not the dwarf version of a larger breed. There is a type from the are once called Tosa that is supposed to be a smaller, local version. It is NOT a recognized breed in Japan, as it is a local variant of the nationally recognized breed CHIBI. It is also important to realize that most Japanese breeds have local variations and strains. The CHIBI is considered a type of dwarf YAMATO GUNKEI; the TOSA CHIBI , however, is yet a smaller rendition of this type of gamefowl that I have found published repeated in Belgian literature, along with photographic material and personal experiences of travellers to Japan. The bird I photographed here below was a year-old. so if they are to develope as the CHIBI, they should grow the bull-dog like folds and wrinkles. This diminutive gamefowl has a very tame disposition and this particular cock jumped up on the windowsill of his owner's kitchen and pecked on the glass to be fed! Little more that 8 - 10 inches tall, the head has a pronounced roundness and the beak is short and full, complimenting the very expressive, seemily large and whimsical eyes.

The comb form is a "strawberry" cushion comb with pearl-like beading. The red face must have an abundance of fleshy tissue, creating an extra depth of expression in its circular arrangement around the pearl-coloured eyes. The chest is held high and the typical gamefowl characteristic of a bare skin showing along the breastbone is also present in this little gnome. The body form is somewhat oval - not as elongated as in the KO SHAMO.

The PRAWN (SHRIMP) TAIL, i.e. the inverted outter flight feathers of the tail, is an extremely important aspect of this and a few other miniature gamefowl breeds. As seen in this illustration, the outter feathers curl upward on the outside of the arrangement of tailfeathers in the tail. The short and curved sickles are normally formed and act as a foil for the very ornamental Prawn (Shrimp) Tail feathers. No true CHIBI or KO SHAMO is without this very distinctive aspect. Another very particular (for us in the west) aspect of this and a couple of other miniature gamefowl breeds are the missing feathers in the wing, in German called the "Gefluegelluecke" or Wing Gap.

The WING GAP is yet another sign of pure bred CHIBI. Erroneously, many first imports of KO-SHAMO, YAMATO GUNKEI and CHIBI were thought to be defective because of the Wing Gap and Prawn (Shrimp) Tail, and many breeders began to wholesalely outcross to other bantam gamefowl breeds, creating "Bastardmischlingen" or "Muts". Any of these three Japanese breeds must have the Wing Gap as a distinctive part of their breed's characteristics. Outcrossing should be avoided at all cost. The TOSA CHIBI seems to be much cold hardier than the very delicate YAMATO which will not tolerate cold.

An extremely rare, short-legged white CHIBI. (This picture is of an unknown photographer. If you took this picture, I would like to give you credit for it. Please contact me.) This breed was once thought extinct in Japan, but during the extensive travels of a colleague of mine, this group of "krueper" legged CHIBI was discovered in a small country show. Handed down from father to son to grandson, this breed has been saved from extinction, but also from any notice.

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