Many have speculates that this was inspired by a story of Muhammad cutting his robe so as not to disturb a cat. Others think it is about the "cut sleeve" story of Emperor Ai of Han slicing a garment so as not to wake his male lover. As far as I know there's no evidence that either were an influence.
The poem beside it has nothing to with the image or with either of the above mentioned stories. It's about cherry blossoms falling like snow. Anyway, I think it's lovely and so relatable, but not old, not Japanese, and not an engraving.
I've always been fond of Kyosai's cats (well all of his animal paintings and prints but for this thread, you know)... I love the absolute shithead look on this guy. "Hey check this - I'm gonna freak this dude out".
One of his most famous cats (and an absolute favorite of mine) is this dancing Nekomata - a cat who lives so long that it gains spiritual powers and grows a second tail. The entire image is incredible, including the dancing moles
I love the fact her facial expression is a benign 'oh, YOU, you naughty darling' rather than the also highly appropriate 'FOR THE LOVE OF HECK, CAT, KNOCK IT OFF'
Steel sharpening technology is not new. Kamisori razors came to Japan from China in the 6th century. Monks used them to shave their heads & faces & they are still made by blacksmiths today. So an obscenely sharp instrument was available- even though the image is modern.
There’s a certain kind of precious and exotic thing modern vibe to it. Like obviously nobody in real life cuts up their clothes just to leave a cat alone, but people in an exotified hypothetical past, if you forget that they were… y’know… *us*, and clothes were *harder* to find and mend back then…
I’m sure folks in the distant past often had the *feeling* of really not wanting to wake a cat, just like we do, but that’s a very different thing from actually cutting your expensive clothing, or devoting the time/energy/resources of a painting to the hypothetical alternative.
What no one mentions in either this instance or in the story of Muhammad is that twenty seconds later the cat got up and moved so it could still inconvenience its owner, because the proximity and the inconvenience were the point.
I think even if the picture is fake the sentiment is still real. We've all done things that might be considered excessive for our pets lol. Glad to know the true origins of the pic tho.
I grew up hearing this story about Muhammad cutting his sleeves off so that he could pray without waking his sleeping cat, Muezza. But this is a legend that probably arose from a 6th century Arabic story.
The actual poem inscription is a poem: 桜散る木の下風は寒からで空に知られぬ雪ぞふりける
Though I felt no chill / in the breeze that / scatters the blossoms of the cherry tree, / a snow unknown in the sky above / was falling
I saw this teacher added something like "Whales kill around 100 babies annually" as a joke to show students why Wikipedia is not a good source, then after the class he tried to remove it but Wikipedia wouldn't let him lol
Comments
Well, that and the fact that they tend to get shredded.
Though I felt no chill / in the breeze that / scatters the blossoms of the cherry tree, / a snow unknown in the sky above / was falling
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhemao_hoaxes