- Porcine deltacoronavirus
- Complete genome
- Phylogenetic analysis
- Pathogenicity
- Hysterectomy-produced colostrum-deprived piglets
•Our survey finds that PDCoV is a causative agent of outbreaks of diarrhoea in pigs in Japan since late 2013.•Our phylogenetic analysis reveals that PDCoVs from Japan are closely related to the recent PDCoVs from the U.S. and Korea.•Our study indicates that PDCoV-inoculated piglets showed acute, watery diarrhoea, but all recovered and survived.•Our study demonstrates that virus shedding in faeces and sera, and viral distribution in the PDCoV-inoculated piglets.