We’re sad to report a truly legendary internet personality has passed away: Kabosu, the beloved Shiba Inu behind the “Much Wow” doge memes and the Dogecoin cryptocurrency has crossed the Rainbow Bridge at 18 years old.
One of the OG memes that almost everyone is sure to recognize first started trending in 2013, based on a 2010 photo of Kabosu looking apprehensive as her owner reaches out to touch her paw.
Kabosu’s human was Atsuko Sato, a Japanese kindergarten teacher who adopted the then-two-year-old Shiba Inu in 2008. Sato posted the photo on her blog dedicated to Kabosu and her other pets, and the image continued to go viral through the 2010s. The Dogecoin cryptocurrency, using Kabuso’s iconic furry face, was also launched in December 2013.
“Doge,” a slang term for dog, is pronounced “dohg.” The doge meme has to use five specific sentence modifiers (“so”, “such”, “many”, “much”, and “very”) in a way that doesn’t modify a word correctly. Such as “much wow”. Comic Sans and neon colors were also mandatory. As its virality spread, the meme format was used for other images of Shiba Inus.
In 2019, Know Your Meme awarded Doge as the meme of the decade, just beating out Pepe the Frog. In 2021, an NFT (remember those lol) of Kabosu’s iconic image was sold for a record-setting $4 million, which went to his human.
Then in 2022, Kabosu’s mom posted on Instagram saying that the pup was very sick after being diagnosed with acute cholangiohepatitis (a digestive condition) and chronic lymphoma leukemia (a blood cancer).
Kabosu celebrated her 18th birthday last November.
Anda monument dedicated to Kabosu and her fur family was also unveiled. It was funded by donations by Kobosu fans around the world.
The monument stands as a symbol for the joy and togetherness something as simple as a cute pup and a meme can bring to so many people.
Kabosu will truly be missed but never forgotten. Kabosu was sometimes mixed up with Cheems Balltze (aka Cheemsburbger), another Shiba Inu-turned-meme who sadly passed away last August at 12 years old.