The Tosa was developed for the sole purpose of dogfighting in legally organized dog matches in Japan during the Meiji period. At first, the Tosa was called the Nihon-Inu and was then the smaller version of the latter Japanese Tosa. The Nihon-Inu regularly began losing to western and foreign breeds and the Japanese felt this defeat as a dishonor. Therefore they set out to upgrade their fighting dog. They crossed the Nihon- Inu with the Great Dane, Mastiff, and the Bulldog. The Tosa became a very large, aggressive, and powerful dog that began to dominate all other dogs in Japan and abroad. The Japanese Tosa was created to be the dog version of the Japanese Sumo wrestler of Japan.