Kabosu, a Shiba Inu whose “much wow” face helped launch one of the defining memes of the last decade and inspired the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, died Friday. She was 18 years old.
She “crossed the rainbow bridge” on Friday, her owner Atsuko Sato said on social media, adding that she died without suffering, and as Sato was petting her. She died at home in Sakura, Japan, a city east of Tokyo, Sato said in an email Friday.
In the animal hall of fame, Kabosu’s sudden rise from ordinary dog to global meme could only be described as “amaze.” Sent to an animal shelter with a group of other Shiba Inu dogs after her breeder went out of business, she was adopted in 2008 by Sato, a kindergarten teacher. Sato began posting photos of Kabosu enjoying her life and playing at home on her blog.
This picture taken on March 19, 2024 shows Atsuko Sato, left, with her Japanese shiba inu dog Kabosu, best known as the logo of cryptocurrency Dogecoin, playing with students at a kindergarten in Narita, Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. Her fluffy face now frail, Kabosu still flashes the enigmatic smile that made her the go-to meme dog for millennials. (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
This picture taken on March 19, 2024 shows Atsuko Sato preparing clothing to put on Japanese shiba inu dog Kabosu, best known as the logo of cryptocurrency Dogecoin, before going to work, in the city of Sakura, Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
This picture taken on March 19, 2024 shows Atsuko Sato and her Japanese shiba inu dog Kabosu, best known as the logo of cryptocurrency Dogecoin, playing with a student at a kindergarten in Narita, Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. Her fluffy face now frail, Kabosu still flashes the enigmatic smile that made her the go-to meme dog for millennials and inspired a $23 billion cryptocurrency beloved by Elon Musk. She’s best known as the logo of Dogecoin, but to Atsuko Sato, Kabosu is the elderly former rescue puppy who accompanies her every day to work at a kindergarten. (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
This picture taken on March 19, 2024 shows Japanese shiba inu dog Kabosu, best known as the logo of cryptocurrency Dogecoin, sitting in front of a manhole cover featuring her image, at a park in the city of Sakura, Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. Her fluffy face now frail, Kabosu still flashes the enigmatic smile that made her the go-to meme dog for millennials and inspired a $23 billion cryptocurrency beloved by Elon Musk. (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
This picture taken on March 19, 2024 shows Atsuko Sato arriving at work with Japanese shiba inu dog Kabosu, best known as the logo of cryptocurrency Dogecoin, in Narita, Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
This picture taken on March 19, 2024 shows a painting of Japanese shiba inu dog Kabosu, best known as the logo of cryptocurrency Dogecoin, at the home of her owner Atsuko Sato in Sakura, Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. Her fluffy face now frail, Kabosu still flashes the enigmatic smile that made her the go-to meme dog for millennials and inspired a $23 billion cryptocurrency beloved by Elon Musk. (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
This picture taken on March 19, 2024 shows Japanese shiba inu dog Kabosu (bottom), best known as the logo of cryptocurrency Dogecoin, taking a rest at owner Atsuko Sato’s office after playing with the pupils of a kindergarten in Narita, Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
This picture taken on March 19, 2024 shows Japanese shiba inu dog Kabosu, best known as the logo of cryptocurrency Dogecoin, taking a rest at the office of her owner Atsuko Sato after playing with children at a kindergarten in Narita, Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. Her fluffy face now frail, Kabosu still flashes the enigmatic smile that made her the go-to meme dog for millennials and inspired a $23 billion cryptocurrency beloved by Elon Musk. She’s best known as the logo of Dogecoin, but to Atsuko Sato, Kabosu is the elderly former rescue puppy who accompanies her every day to work at a kindergarten. (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
This picture taken on March 19, 2024 shows Atsuko Sato with her Japanese shiba inu dog Kabosu, best known as the logo of cryptocurrency Dogecoin, playing with students at a kindergarten in Narita, Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
This picture taken on March 19, 2024 shows Japanese shiba inu dog Kabosu, best known as the logo of cryptocurrency Dogecoin, resting at the home of her owner Atsuko Sato in Sakura, Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. Her fluffy face now frail, Kabosu still flashes the enigmatic smile that made her the go-to meme dog for millennials and inspired a $23 billion cryptocurrency beloved by Elon Musk. She’s best known as the logo of Dogecoin, but to Atsuko Sato, Kabosu is the elderly former rescue puppy who accompanies her every day to work at a kindergarten. (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
This picture taken on March 19, 2024 shows a sticker of Japanese shiba inu dog Kabosu, best known as the logo of cryptocurrency Dogecoin, pictured on the car of her owner Atsuko Sato as they go to her office in Sakura, Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
This picture taken on March 19, 2024 shows pictures and products of Japanese shiba inu dog Kabosu, best known as the logo of cryptocurrency Dogecoin, on display at the home of her owner Atsuko Sato in the city of Sakura, Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
This picture taken on March 19, 2024 shows Atsuko Sato and her Japanese shiba inu dog Kabosu, best known as the logo of cryptocurrency Dogecoin, as they play with children at a kindergarten in Narita, Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. Her fluffy face now frail, Kabosu still flashes the enigmatic smile that made her the go-to meme dog for millennials and inspired a $23 billion cryptocurrency beloved by Elon Musk. She’s best known as the logo of Dogecoin, but to Atsuko Sato, Kabosu is the elderly former rescue puppy who accompanies her every day to work at a kindergarten. (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
This picture taken on March 19, 2024 shows Atsuko Sato with Japanese shiba inu dog Kabosu, best known as the logo of cryptocurrency Dogecoin, as they visit a park which installed a statue of the dog in the city of Sakura, Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
FILE – This mobile phone app screen shot shows the logo for Dogecoin, in New York, April 20, 2021. Kabosu, the Siba Inu that rose to meme fame after becoming the face of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, has died. She was 18. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
But one particular photo of Kabosu in 2010 broke through: eyebrows raised and with a look, much like a Rorschach test, that could be read as knowing, mischievous or amused. Her round head soon became one of the most recognizable faces of the Doge meme.
Online followers originally peppered images of her face with text in the often-mocked comic sans font and grammatically incorrect two-word phrases that became their own language: a way to communicate a reaction to just about any situation. (Much awake! So scare! Wow!)
The image of Kabosu, along with other Shiba Inu dogs, was cropped and remixed for jokes ranging from the relatable to the nonsensical, and in time sparked their own spinoff memes. Nicolas Cage’s face was photoshopped on her body. Her body was photoshopped onto a loaf of bread. Even lawmakers caught up and used to Doge to communicate their discontent. (Another Shiba Inu, Suki, has also frequently been a source of Doge memes after a photo of her wearing a shrunken scarf and gazing into the distance spread wide, according to a defining history of the meme in The Verge.)
Her likeness then veered into the cryptocurrency sphere after it was adopted as the logo for dogecoin, a cryptocurrency coin introduced as a joke in 2013. The meme coin made some investors millionaires overnight after it experienced a stratospheric rise in 2021, before fading.
Aware or not of her popularity, Kabosu didn’t seem to mind the attention. Her temperament was unusually laid back for a Shiba Inu, according Sato.
“She’s very gentle and calm; she loves being photographed,” Sato said in an interview with The Verge in 2013. A volunteer, struck by the roundness of the dog’s face, had named her after the Japanese citrus of the same name. “I thought the name was perfect, so I kept it,” Sato said.
The Shiba Inu had in recent years suffered from bouts of ill health, and Sato said in 2022 that she had been diagnosed with chronic lymphoma leukemia, a type of cancer, and acute cholangiohepatitis, a condition that inflames the liver and surrounding area.
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Her life was a source of interest for more than 500,000 followers online, and she lived with three cats. Her birthday, Nov. 2, was a cause of celebration for many, known as “Doge day.”
“She was not loved when she was little, so I want to shower her with love as a member of my family,” Sato told The Verge. A farewell party will be held for Kabosu on Sunday in Narita, Japan.
“I am certain that Kabosu was the happiest dog in the world,” she wrote on Friday.
