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The Boy Who Drew Cats

"The Boy Who Drew Cats" (Japanese: 猫を描いた少年, Hepburn: Neko wo egaita shōnen) is a Japanese fairy tale translated by Lafcadio Hearn, published in 1898, as number 23 of Hasegawa Takejirō's Japanese Fairy Tale Series.[1][2] It was later included in Hearn's Japanese Fairy Tales.[3]

The boy draws cats on a byōbu screen at the haunted temple.
—Hearn tr., (1898). Illustrated by Kason.

The original title in Hearn's manuscript was "The Artist of Cats".[1] Printing it on plain paper as in the rest of the series did not meet with Hearn's approval, and this book became the first of a five-volume set by Hearn printed on crepe paper.[1] Illustrations were by the artist Suzuki Kason [ja].[a][1]

Origin

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This tale was known from Tohoku to Chugoku and Shikoku regions under the title Eneko to Nezumi (絵猫と鼠, "The Picture-Cats and the Rat").[5] Some commentators trace the tale to the 15th century legends around Sesshū.[6]

It has been suggested that Lafcadio Hearn's version is a retelling, and has no original Japanese story which is an "exact counterpart".[7] Thus "in his English edition, Lafcadio Hearn retold it with a thrilling ghostly touch. In the original story, the acolyte becomes the abbot of the temple after the incident, but in Hearn's version, he goes on to be a renowned artist".[b][4]

Analyses

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The legends surrounding the eminent inkbrush artist priest Sesshū as a young acolyte has been compared to this folktale,[8] and it has been suggested the tale may derive from the legends around young Sesshū.[6]

Hearn stipulated that he would not contribute a story unless it would be "prettily illustrated" in publication,[9] and even though the choice of artist was not the author/translator's, Kason's [ja] drawing catered to the American readers' taste for the fantastical, as in the example of the illustration showing the dead giant rat-ghoul.[10]

The tale is displayed as the second of 51 tales in the 1960 book, All Cats go to Heaven.

Explanatory notes

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  1. ^ The illustration of the byōbu screen (or rather, a tsuitate screen, on p. 4) is signed "Kason", allowing this artist to be identified.[4]
  2. ^ Quote from the Kyoto University of Foreign Studies pamphlet for the 2007 "Crepe-paper Book" exhibit.

References

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Citations
  1. ^ a b c d Sharf (1994), pp. 46, 63
  2. ^ Hearn (1898).
  3. ^ Hearn (1918), pp. 29–35.
  4. ^ a b "The Boy Who Drew Cats". Kyoto University of Foreign Studies Rare Books Exhibition. 2007. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
  5. ^ Kang, Jihyun (康 志賢) (2006). 浮世絵に見る『東海道中膝栗毛』滑稽の旅 (特集 旅). Nihon Ukiyoe Kyōkai. Ukiyo-e Art: A Journal of the Japan Ukiyo-e Society (in Japanese). 151–152: 23.
  6. ^ a b "Library Publishes Facsimile of Japanese Tale, Lafcadio Hearn's The Boy Who Drew Cats". Library of Congress Information Bulletin. 46 (48): 509. 1987.
  7. ^ Guth (2008), p. 271, n22.
  8. ^ Van Briessen, Fritz (1964) [1962]. The Way of the Brush: Painting Techniques of China and Japan. Tuttle. pp. 29–35.
  9. ^ Ichikawa, Sanki [ja] (1925). Some New Letters and Writings of Lafcadio Hearn. Kenkyusha. p. 320. Cited by Guth (2008), p. 274.
  10. ^ Guth (2008), p. 274.
Bibliography
  • Guth, Christine M. E. (Spring–Autumn 2008). "Hasegawa's Fairy Tales: Toying with Japan". RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics. 53–54 (53/54). The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology: 266–281. doi:10.1086/RESvn1ms25608821. JSTOR 2560882. S2CID 164285608.
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