My last article was exhausting. So… a little break.
My last two cat photos were of Cappy who I found as a tiny abandoned behind my apartment. She was a mixture of gray, white with a little orange and brown – what is called a calico cat in English and in Japanese “mike-neko”. There were at one time many cats like this in my neighborhood – street cats—in their own way, part of history.
There’s a story to this.
I live on the fourth floor of an apartment building facing the rear of Japan’s defense forces military command center where the novelist Mishima Yukio cut open his belly. This is an area of Tokyo where there are a lot of government and semi-governmental buildings—a mixture of very old buildings and new high-rises. It is not actually that far from the Imperial Palace. And it is adjacent to what used to be the geisha quarter—and is now a fashionable place for college students to drink.
Behind my building, there is a small park where a lot of feral cats used to live-- and which I and some of the neighbors -- one old guy in particular --fed. I rescued two more “mike-neko” here as well.
They were both girl cats —as all calico cats are.
Next to the park was a very old, very large house and garden hidden behind high walls, dating from the Meiji Period. The old guy in the park said it had been the home of the Emperor Meiji’s last Mistress –or omekake-san, who had a fondness for mike-neko—as many Japanese do —or used to anyway –believing them to bring good luck. I don't know if that story is really true or not. Here in Japan there is not a lot written about the private life of the Imperial family. Unless you go to the tabloids of course.
The famous ukiyo-e artist Kuniyoshi loved mike-neko. He lived with 10 cats.
Every ukiyo-e tells a story —which is in the details and your imagination.
Here's another. Notice that the geisha is reading. Notice alsothe image in the background.
The cat appears to be either reading with her or just thinking, in any case, keeping her company and sharing her feelings.
In the background you see a scene from a fishing village. Is this where she came from? Was she one of many daughters, sold to a geisha house at 11? Interpretation is up to you. Ukiyo-e is like poetry.
Back in my neighborhood, the story goes that when the old lady died, there was no one to look after the cats who moved next door to the park and became community cats. Her cats would all have been Japanese bobtails but interbred with other breeds.
So, Cappy had illustrious forebears. She was most grey and white with a dash or orange-brown.
When the Emperor’s daughter, got married, not so long ago, the Imperial household reportedly sold half of the property to pay for the wedding. The developers who bought it built a luxury apartment building.
Volunteer groups then began neutering the park cats. Now there are none. I miss my furry friends, but it is probably best since it is a hard life for street cats.
Tokyo is a strange place. It is a very modern city with great restaurants, high-rises, shopping centers, and the world’s most advanced mass transit system. Lots of fashionable people except for me. The city is also full of history-- which the locals are usually unaware of. Sad—we are our history.
Cats remember. They know things —like the cat reading with the geisha. With her history in the background (maybe).
Note:
If you want to support my efforts to be a better human being —buy me a coffee. As far as I know, only human beings drink coffee— which I guess is why I never drank it until I escaped from home. Click here to buy me a coffee.
So apt what you say.
Continued on without them looking over my shoulder to help.
Driving taxi on a native reserve is worth a degree in itself.
I hear you. Anthropology was so boring I skipped classes to take scuba diving and modern dance.
Liked Piet Hein’ poems instead of suffering with courses.
Missing Link poem
Man’s a kind of Missing Link
Fondly thinking
He can think.