Oriental Observation

For centuries, Japanese artists have been able to capture the true nature of cats in their woodblock prints. The accuracy of their observation and illustration has been profound.

This is also true of many modern Japanese cartoonists, who often employ the fierceness and frailty of cats to symbolize these same aspects of human nature.

The popular Japanese artist Ando Hiroshige (1797-1858) created humanized cats that not only conveyed human actions and emotions, but also retained their feline nature.

Western influences permeate current Japanese cartoons, with the escapades of the cat-shaped robot Doraemon, and the celestial cats Luna and Artemis in the comic book Sailormoon.