Cats in Japanese Literature

Cats in Japanese Literature

This article relates to Mornings Without Mii

Japanese people have been writing about cats for a long time. In 889, Japanese Emperor Uda wrote in his journal: "Taking a moment of my free time, I wish to express my joy of the cat." He proceeded to then describe the animal in thoughtful detail, including a humorous remark that will resonate all too well with cat owners: "I affixed a bow about its neck, but it did not remain for long." 

Japanese culture is suffused with cats. Assistant Professor of Animal Ecology at Seinan Gakuin University Yamane Akihiro has posited that cats are especially popular in Japan because of their fiercely independent nature:

"I think that behind this affection for cats is the way that present-day Japanese society makes people feel trapped ... People can't live their lives freely and as they wish. Perhaps that is why they are so attracted to free-living cats."

With the new English translation (by Ginny Tapley Takemori) of Mayumi Inaba's 2001 memoir Mornings Without Mii, we can appreciate the most recent in a long line of Japanese cat stories that tug at the heartstrings, including other contemporary novels like The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide (2001) and If Cats Disappeared from the World (2012) by Genki Kawamura.

Cats and literature have gone hand in hand since the world's first novel, The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu (11th century), depicted a princess chasing after her cat. Arguably the largest influence on modern cat literature in Japan came from Natsume Soseki's satirical story, I Am a Cat. Despite the feline narrator's often scathing remarks on middle-class Japanese society, the novel was an instant hit that prompted serialization. Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, another writer of Japanese classics, depicted a complex love triangle involving a cat in his novel A Cat, A Man, and Two Women (1936).

In another, more recent work featuring a cat narrator, The Traveling Cat Chronicles (2012) by Hiro Arikawa, a road trip becomes a lesson in loyalty, courage, and the eternal bond between human and feline. Sometimes a cat incident is essential to spur the rest of the plot forward, such as in many of Haruki Murakami's novels, including The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994), where a man begins an odyssey into a fantastical netherworld to find his missing cat. In The Cat Who Saved Books (2017) by Sosuke Natsukawa, the titular cat is a witty sidekick that leads a human's moral journey through growth and healing. And in a similar vein, the snarky cat in manga/anime series Natsume's Book of Friends (starting in 2005) by Yuki Midorikawa assists a human with guiding local yokai (spirits) through their troubles.

A cat on the cover of a manga is known to bring instant attention. Many slice-of-life manga relay the everyday hijinks of living with a cat, such as Junji Ito's Cat Diary (2009), Chi's Sweet Home (2004) by Konami Kanata, My Roommate Is a Cat by Asu Futatsuya (2015), and A Man and His Cat by Umi Sakurai (2018). Others are more offbeat, including I Am a Cat Barista (2020) by Hiro Maijima (depicting cats serving coffee) and Night of the Living Cat (2020) by Mecha-Roots and Hawkman (about a virus that transforms humans into cats!).

Whatever your mood, Japan has a neko (cat) tale for you. Just be forewarned: these cat stories are often bittersweet, so you may need a box of tissues.

Filed under Reading Lists

This article relates to Mornings Without Mii. It first ran in the February 26, 2025 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.

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