Cats In Spring Rain

This delightful little book pays homage to the cat through artfully curated Japanese poetry and prints. No one captures the graces and idiosyncrasies of cats quite like the painters, printmakers, and haiku masters of Japan. From the Edo to the Showa period, many artists turned their gaze toward an unlikely subject: their small feline companions. Closely observed portraits in words ad ink elevate the everyday adventures of cats: taking a nap on a Buddha statue's lap, daintily eating a rice ball, courting the neighbor's cat. This curated collection of poems, prints, and paintings will leave you inspired to cultivate the serenity and wonder embodied by these creators—and by the cats themselves. Presented as a sweet, jacketed paperback with thoughtful design touches, this volume includes each poem in both English and Japanese. THE ORIGINAL CAT LOVERS: Centuries before the emergence of cat memes and cat cafes, Japanese artists and writers perfected the practice of feline reverence. Cats played pivotal roles in folklore; they were the protectors of scriptures and symbols of good luck and wealth. They also proved to be a wonderful source of creative inspiration. This little compendium showcases Japan's rich cultural heritage. UNIQUE GIFT: Surprise your cat-loving friends and family with this unusual twist on the cat-themed gift. PERFECT FOR POETRY LOVERS: Whether they came to poetry through the works of Instagram poets, or have been reading the classics for decades, any lover of verse will enjoy this thoughtfully curated collection. The writers featured include Bashō, Chiyo-ni, Issa, Shiki, and more—all icons of the haiku form. ENCHANTING ART: Hokusai, Hiroshige, Yoshitoshi, and more: These artists masterfully captured the personalities of cats and their humans. These images, with their delicate lines and soothing colors, have endured through time to bring us quiet joy. Perfect for: • Cat lovers • Poets and poetry readers • Artists and art lovers • Anyone who appreciates Japan's arts and culture

Beginner's guide to philosophy as written by a cat.

This is the story of young Lukas, who gets a most precious present for his birthday, a black kitten which he calls Night. Lukas becomes very attached to Night, so when Night disappears, Lukas is desperate and searches for him everywhere.

Come along on a fun, rainy trip through the garden in search of a missing cat!

A young kitten explores the wilderness as other animals celebrate spring. On board pages.

Imagine a cat who mastered more tricks than a highly trained dog, covered up cans of food he did not want to eat before they were opened and could delicately touch a tiny finger-spun top repeatedly without stopping it. Han-chan was such a cat. His memory, preserved in notes and sketches, inspired an authority on stereotypes of national character and translator of Edo era Japanese poetry to essay out of his fields of expertise and into felinity. Sample chapters: The animal that kneads the world. / Conversing with cats: easier in Japanese? / Smiling with closed eyes, or far from Ecotopia. /Are cats the most or least false animal. / Beauty: Is it relative or . . . is it the cat? / A little red mouse, or are we keeping the right pet? / The third-generation tanuki - a new theory of domestication. Observations are coupled with thought about things such as 1) whether the altered behavior usually explained as saving face or covering up weakness is not more like improvisation that, retrospectively, makes melodic sense of what would be wrong notes by offsetting or dream-style logic that, ever present, keeps the flow from breaking. 2) Cats, or some cats, may avoid trauma from bad experiences by convincing themselves it was only a nightmare and continuing to hope until they can cope. 3) Cats demonstrate their social nature by showing off their catches, sleeping together in the cold and behaving themselves, but most are, unfortunately, like so-called feral children: because they are separated from their family while too young to have socialized, they re-enforce the stereotype of the independent asocial cat. One can only understand felinity by living with generations of cats under one roof. The author did this. People who liked Barbara Holland's "Secrets of the Cat," the cat chapter in Vicki Hearne's "Adam's Task" and Leonard Michaels' "A Cat" will probably purr while reading this.

Despite the warnings of their sisters and brothers, a little mouse and a little cat enjoy playing in the rain with a frog.