Cats had a high status in ancient Japan. Why do Japanese people like cats so much?

Cats have a high status in Japan. In Japanese, there is a saying that "gods and buddhas serve each other", that is, you can worship your own gods in various shrines and monasteries. Cats are enshrined in different shrines in Japan, which shows that they are worshipped as gods in Japan.

Japanese people have a special complex about cats. In Japanese film and television animation, you can see the shadow of the cat. For example, the protagonist of the Japanese cartoon Doraemon is a robot cat. The cartoon Cat Bus in My Neighbor Totoro depicts a warm and touching cat image. The gratitude of cats is also a description of the cat kingdom. There is also "I am a cat" by the famous Japanese writer Xia Shushi, which shows that cats have a very high position in Japanese life.

People who travel to Japan also find that there are images of lucky cats, Hello Kitty and other cats everywhere in Japan. Especially today, with the acceleration of modernization in Japan, "cat coffee shops" are very popular in various cities in Japan, and February 22 every year is still "cat day" in Japan.

Japanese people's worship and love for cats began from ancient times. According to records, there were no cats in early Japan. According to legend, it was brought back to Japan by an emissary of the Tang Dynasty in China. In ancient times, due to inconvenient transportation and bumpy roads, all the Japanese court nobles who could keep cats at that time were rare species. In heian period's aristocratic literature, there are descriptions about cats.

It was not until the edo period that ordinary people began to raise cats. Because the Japanese people think that cats are animals from noble courts, they naturally admire them. From the Tang cat era in heian period, the short-tailed cat era in Kamakura era, and then to the stocking era in Edo era, cats also changed from emperors to ordinary people, and then from nobles to civilians.

Japanese people like cats, which may be related to these factors.

I like cats on Japan Environment Day. Some people think that this is because Japan is an island country, surrounded by the sea, with developed fisheries and abundant fish resources, and the cost of raising cats is relatively low. Moreover, Japan is poor in resources and cherishes rice and food very much. Cats can catch mice, protect food and prevent rodents, which is also very important to the Japanese.

The mysterious story about the cat as a typical mascot in Japan is also related to a mysterious story. According to legend, during the Wan Zhi period (1658- 16 1), Yan Genfan's second-generation bannermen came back from hunting with his samurai ministers and passed a very dilapidated temple called Haode Temple. When Naoshi Inoue and his ministers walked to the door of the temple, they saw a cat waving to them in the temple. Naoko Inoue was very curious, so he followed the cat's gesture and walked to the temple. As soon as I went in, it began to rain cats and dogs outside.

Inoue thought it was a cat, so as to avoid being struck by lightning and survive. So, the temple was rebuilt for this dilapidated Haode Temple and the statue was molded into gold. Since then, Haode Temple has flourished under the worship of Inoue Naoki.

When the cat that saved Naoko Inoue in the temple died, the owner was very sad. Not only did he build a tomb for the cat, but he also made it look like Guanyin, that is, a cat holding a hand, symbolizing good luck. This is also the source and prototype of the image of "lucky cat" in Japan now. At the same time, a "cat hall" was specially built in the temple.

Because of the lucky cat in Haode Temple, the Japanese like cats very much and think cats are a kind of mascot.

Because of the lucky cat in Haode Temple, the Japanese like cats very much and think cats are a kind of mascot.

Some people think that the cat craze in modern Japan is closely related to the phenomenon of small families in modern Japanese society.

With the process of modernization in Japan, there are more and more families of three, and now Japanese people don't like to have more children. In a small family atmosphere, Japanese people are withdrawn and naturally like to keep pets.

As it happens, cats are docile and cute, which is a kind of intimate existence. Therefore, Japanese people also like to keep cats as pets, which is also a realistic reason why Japanese people like cats.