Fifty-five cats appear in this triptych print by the Japanese illustrator Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861). One of them crawls out of a basket, a few catch rats, others eat fish. They look terrific but is there a reason behind the illustration? Do their actions carry some kind of meaning or are they simply the work of a man who loved cats? To answer these questions it's best to travel back to a time long before the print was made and discover where this obsession with cats all began. In the sixth-century Buddhist monks traveled from China to Japan. On their ship they brought scriptures, drawings and relics; items which they hoped would help them to introduce the teachings of Buddhism to the large island nation. They also had something else on board which would leave a lasting impression – to guard over their possessions they traveled with domesticated cats. They believed that these creatures could bring good luck and that they'd be able to guard the sacred texts from the hungry mice that had stowed on board their ships. While the lasting influence of Buddhism was certainly something that the monks had hoped for, it's unlikely that any of them could have imagined just how big an impression their feline companions would make on the country. Today cats can be found nearly everywhere in Japan. From special cafés and shrines to entire cat islands. Indeed the owners of one Japanese train-station were so enamoured with their cat that they appointed her stationmaster. It’s fair to say that the country's feline fixation knows no bounds. And yet this obsession isn't a recent phenomena, it can be found throughout all aspects of the country's history.... One of the most popular types of art at the time was ukiyo-e. Today these woodblock prints hang in dimly lit museums and are considered to be delicate and precious works of art but during the Edo period, they were pure pop-culture. Bought by the newly rich, they depicted the pleasures of the country’s new hedonistic ways and they celebrated the popular culture of the time. People would decorate their homes with scenes of beautiful geishas or the stars of kabuki theatre; they would collect travel prints, portraits of wrestlers and even erotic images. For illustrators, the more popular the subject-matter the more likely it was to sell. Ukiyo-e prints defined the era and one of the last great masters of the artform was our cat-fanatic friend Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Few can match the energy and immediacy of Kuniyoshi’s work. He was highly skilled and effortlessly proficient, producing hundreds of prints that remain striking to this day. ...All of this eventually brings us back to our original print and its fifty-five cats. What is the story behind it? Is it simply a study or is it a scene from a kabuki? Could it be a puzzle or is it the result of oppressive censorship? First-and-foremost I believe that it is an illustration that comes from a man who had a unique ability for observing and drawing cats. He catches the nuances and the subtle movements of each one of them perfectly. They're all distinct and every one of them looks as though they have a personality of their own. This is certainly Kuniyoshi's intention. The work is called Cats Suggested As The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō and each one represents a station on the road that links Tokyo to Kyoto. Kuniyoshi's illustration is a fun spoof on Hiroshige's The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (1833–34). Hiroshige's impressive series was the biggest-selling collection in the history of ukiyo-e and even a decade on, Kuniyoshi's take would have still felt relevant. The Tōkaidō – or 'Eastern Sea Road' – had 53 different post stations along its route and these provided stables, food and lodgings for travellers. Where Hiroshige captured each of these through a series of different landscapes, Kuniyoshi decided to show them through cat puns. For example, the forty-first station of the Tōkaidō is called Miya. This name sounds somewhat like the Japanese word oya (親) which means 'parent'. For this reason, the station is depicted as two kittens with their mother. Another example is the fifty-first station. This stop is called Ishibe and its name sounds similar to the Japanese word miji-me (ミじめ) meaning 'miserable'. To illustrate this, Kuniyoshi drew the town as a miserable looking cat (below-right). Its body looks frail, its hair is coarse and it yelps out with a wretched purr. While the fun of these puns is a little lost in translation, one can easily imagine how great they must be for a Japanese-speaker familiar with the Tōkaidō. For non-native speakers, Kuniyoshi's prints remain a fascinating reminder of just how inventive ukiyo-e can be and his illustrations continue to be a joy to behold. [http://illustrationchronicles.com/Obsessed-with-Cats-The-Ukiyo-e-Prints-of-Utagawa-Kuniyoshi]