Last week, on the way home after visiting my parents, I stopped by a museum in Kyoto. There was an exhibit featuring cats in Ukiyo-e. I've never paid attention to cats in Ukiyo-e, but it was fascinating. I was surprised there are so many cats are printed in ukiyo-e.

I learned one of famous ukiyo-e artists, Utagawa Kuniyoshi was a huge fan of cats. He designed lots of cats in his pieces and owned tons of cats at home. One day, one of his cats passed away. He asked one of apprentices to take its body to a temple and ask a monk if he buried it. The apprentice didn't follow and lied to Kuniyoshi. He threw away the body from a bridge and went to a brothel. He spent the money on sake and prostitutes. When Kuniyoshi asked him the cat's Buddhist name, He couldn't answer. When Kunishige found it, he was really made at the apprentice and excommunicated the apprentice.

When you look at Kuniyoshi's ukiyo-e, you can find lots of cats.

Kuniyoshi lived during the Edo period (1603 to 1868), and cats were very popular as domestic pets. However, having them could be risky because of their long tails. Back then, majority people couldn't get candles, which were luxurious items, so instead, they used fish oil. Cats loved licking it and often cased fire. To avoid it, people cut cats' tails, so there were cats who had short ones. Although it's a different story , the ancestors of Japanese Bobtails (one of cats breeds) were those cats.

Unfortunately, photography wasn't allowed in the exhibit, so I only took some photos. I guess you can get the image of the show through my pictures.

Here are images of Kunihoshi's cats, and a YouTube video clip here.

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