Cats are very important to many cultures. When we think of them as ‘divine beings’, the first thing that comes to mind is probably Egypt. They now have relationships with other cultures and gods, like the Viking gods. And Japan is not far behind. In particular, lucky cat figurines or the Japanese cats that served as the inspiration for ‘Hello Kitty’ herself.

These are Japanese bobtails, and not only are their aesthetics intriguing, but we owe them a great Japanese cultural tradition.

A legendary cat. The distinctive feature of the Japanese bobtail is that the tail is short and sometimes slightly crooked. Our first instinct might be to think that they were amputated for whatever reason, but the truth is that they are like that too. The first documentation of short-tailed cats comes from southern China, and it is thought that this breed entered Japan in the 6th century thanks to Buddhist monks. These monks will be very important in the future, but we will get into that too.

And of course, there are legends that try to explain this short tail-like feature. A story from Japanese folklore tells that a cat with a “full” tail sleeps peacefully when its tail catches fire. Frightened, he started running through the town, spreading the fire as he went. Their villages were reduced to ashes, and to prevent further disaster, the emperor ordered the tails of all cats to be cut off. This wouldn’t matter given genetics, but history has its own mystery.

In another folklore work, it is told that a cat named Maneki-Neko sits in the workplaces of the town where he lives and signals passers-by that they can enter the store by moving his front paw. For this reason, when it stood at the door of a business, it was considered a lucky cat because people would come in. If you think about those little cat figurines moving their paw, they are Maneki-Neko and they are so important that they are featured on the facade of the Gotokuji temple in Tokyo.

reality… The truth is that there are many breeds of cats with tails of this style, and for some there are legends that try to explain the origin of this feature. But a recent study revealed that the bobtail’s shorter, crooked tails were the product of a nonsense mutation. This is a dominant mutation, so the offspring will also share this trait, but the interesting thing is that no two tails are the same.

It is the product of the reduction in the number of vertebrae in the tail and also their fusion. This is what causes it not only to be shorter, but also to bend more or less, and also the point at which it can bend – the joint – is not common to all bobtails.

Gotokuji Temple

That we were left without writing! But… why such an important cat? Here two important moments in Japanese history come into play for understanding Japanese culture and industry (at least in a particular period). We have previously mentioned that it is believed that the bobtail came to Japan thanks to Buddhist monks. They may have come on merchant ships or as a gift from the Emperor of China to the Emperor of Japan, but as we said, this is something that is not known for sure.

Coming back to the priests, they did not consider them as pets or as superstition. The reason for this was much more practical: The monks had scrolls of scriptures made of rice paper, a material much appreciated by mice. Therefore, cats had a simple but essential task: to hunt those mice.

To save the economy. Bobtails were also used as pets at court and were good guardians of crops, but by 1602 they began to play another vital role. If they had saved the Buddhist traditions before, now was the time to save the economy, especially the silk economy. The rodents attacked again, but now they chose silkworms, not rice paper rolls.

This could have been a disaster, because Japan had a rich textile industry supported by silk, so the authorities ordered all cats released to patrol the villages and eliminate rodents that wanted to eat the worms. Additionally, when the buying and selling of these cats was declared illegal, the short-tailed cat became Japan’s street cat.

Therefore, they may not be as graceful as the Egyptian cats that were worshiped and buried in huge mausoleums, but they played a very important role in preserving Japanese culture a few centuries ago.

Pictures | Enrique Pérez (Xataka),

in Xataka | The cat videos of this YouTube channel have more than 20 million views. Yes, for cats to see.