Cats 猫 in Japanese prints

Cats are mysterious, cuddly and wild, and came as outlanders to Japan. Then, it is not a surprise they provoked at the same time attraction and fear, love and repulsion. Indeed, they became pets, but were also humanized and even transformed into demons!  This post only describes a tiny part of the abundant production of prints showing this feline, but we did try to cover all main facets of cat’s sociology (!) that woodblock artists explored during the 19th century.

Let us hope some of them will surprise you…