TOKUGAWA CAT
NIKKO NO NEKO

That's a very famous cat amidst the extravagant carvings of the Nikko Tokugawa shrine that holds the ashes of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

It was made by the artist Jingoro Hidari, to guard the premises from live rats (literally) and to keep the dynasty in power (symbolically).

The generally penny-pinching clan made this elaborate waste of money for once because it was not their own money; all the clans defeated or defected around the Sekigahara war of 1600 were compelled to finance the construxion project.

	TOSHOGU Tokugawa Shrine

Traditional Japanese cat pictures also have their own history.

NITTA'S CAT

In late 1300's, Nitta Manjiro -- descendant of one of the greatest samurai ever, Nitta Yoshisada (click here for story and picture), painted a cat when his valet reported of some nearly plague-like attacks of rats at the surrounding area's barns. Every barn protected by a copy of Nitta's cat was free from rats since.

Click here for Shinto cat-charms: hatsutatsuneko.

Click here for Buddhist/Confucianist cat-charms that the Japanese imported from China: manekineko.

T E N J I N

Tributes to Lord Sugawara

The tragedy of Lord Sugawara Michizane is at another page (click here).

The following are some of the numerous tributes the Japanese of the last thousand years have been giving to him, who, in afterlife, has been the Shinto god of learning.

votive plaque

clay charms

daruma-like charms of Sugawara & wife

votive plaque of the same as above

K I U S O

Lord Sugawara's Bullfinch

The pic above is of the Sugawara shrine's charm in the making.

When finished, at the chest of the rather intimidating bullfinch would be put the crest of the Sugawara family, plum blossom.

Click here for samurai flowers, including Sugawara's blossoms.

• History of Japan
• Family Crests of Samurai Clans
• Samurai is identical with swords, right? WRONG.
• Japanese Swords, Swordsmaking & Swordsplay
• Historically-Correct Samurai Armors
• Authentic Swords of Japanese Warlords
• Samurai Weapons
• Historically-Correct Samurai Armors
• History & Pictures of Japanese Christian Samurai & Warlords
• How a Japanese Warlord Got His Army
• Spaces, Interior Design & Architecture
• Japanese Warlords' Money
• Japanese 16th century Warlords
• Management of a Warlord's Household
• Japanese Samurai Wars
• Origins of Samurai Habits
• Bushido
• Yamabushi, the Japanese Demon-Slayers (For Real)
• History of Japanese Portrait Paintings
• Maps of All Japanese Provinces, Warlords & Battles
• Premodern Japan: Real-Life in Emperor Meiji's World
• Japanese Warrior Codes & Samurai Beliefs
• Real Samurai Legends
• Origins of Japanese Music, Songs, Dramas & Dance
• Many traditions that we assume to be Japanese are actually imported from China: kanji, Buddhism, ikebana, bonsai, tea ceremony, and so on -- even sushi and Shinto. No kidding.
• Things that are 100% Japanese
• Incidents of Real Samurai Lives
• Yakuza & the Underground Samuraihood
• Kamikaze, the Flying Samurai
• Ainu, the Forgotten Natives of Japan
• The Shield Society
• The Japanese Self-Defense Forces
• Ukiyo: the Fleeting World, the Floating World, the Samurai's view of Life (Death)
• Meanings of the Japanese Flowers & the Samurai Flowers
• Incidents of Real Samurai Lives
• Shinto, the Essence of Japan
• Yakuza & the Underground Samuraihood
• Kamikaze, the Flying Samurai
• Zen, Samurai's Buddhism
• Meanings of Japanese Names, Nicknames & Titles
• How the Japanese Name Themselves
• History of Japanese Clothes
• Kimono Culture
• Samurai LEGENDS: since 660 BCE until 1868
• History of Japanese Dolls & Origami
• Structure of Japanese Feudal Society
• Rulers of Japan since 660 B.C. until today
• Shoguns for Dummies
• The Japanese Greatest Warrior Clans
• Cities of Japanese Warlords
• Weird snapshots, strange truths, odd realities & wacky info about Japan
• Samurai ANIME: Watsuki Nobuhiro's