Hachi-ko was born in 1923 in Odate and owned by Professor Eizaburo Ueno, who was a lecturer at Toyko University. At the age of two months Hachi-ko moved to Toyko. Each morning Hachi-ko accompanied the professor on his walk to Shibuya train station and waited each afternoon to accompany him on the walk home. One afternoon, in May 1925, the professor did not return. He had had a fatal stroke while at work.