Shippeitarō

or Shippei Taro (German spelling: Schippeitaro; or ) is the name of a helper dog in the Japanese fairy tale by the same name.

== Etymology == Although the name Shippeitaro has been written suggesting a connection to a bamboo hitting stick in Buddhist religion, it has been asserted to be a corruption of meaning "swift wind Tarō", and the same characters can also be read Hayatetarō, thus explaining variant names such as Hayatarō "swift Tarō".