While he sought shelter under a nearby tree, he noticed Tama beckoning to him from the temple gate. One day, Lord Ii Natotaka was caught in a rain storm near the temple. The monk often shared his meager food with his beloved cat to make sure she got enough to eat. As the tale goes, a bobtailed, tri-colored cat named Tama lived at the poor Kotoku temple in Setagaya, Tokyo. The most famous story about the Mi-Ke is the legend of Maneki Neko, which means “beckoning cat” in Japanese. Bobtailed cats born with a particular pattern of red, black and white markings were called Mi-Ke (pronounced mee-kay, meaning “three fur” in Japanese) were considered lucky such cats were particularly treasured. It’s safe to say the Japanese Bobtail is one of the oldest existing cat breeds with a history as rich with legends and folklore as the country in which it developed. Bobtailed cats can be found in Japanese woodcut prints and silkscreen paintings from the Edo period (1603–1867), so they were not only well known in Japan but by the fifteenth century were prized for their grace and beauty, and were kept in the temples and homes of the Imperial Japanese families for many years. It’s clear, however, that the breed has been bobbing around the Far East for many centuries, since early Japanese folklore contains numerous references to short-tailed cats. Whether these seafaring cats had bobbed tails or not is not known the origin of their bobbed tail mutation will probably never be known. They most likely were kept aboard ships to protect precious silk goods and documents being transported from port to port. No one knows for sure when and where the Japanese Bobtail originated, but it is believed that the ancestors of today’s Japanese Bobtail cats traveled from Korea and China to Japan around the beginning of the sixth century. You’ll need no better excuse for neglecting the housework than watching the antics of your Japanese Bobtail at play. At their most mischievous, how ever, they are loads of fun to watch.
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Their intelligence can get them into mischief, since they are adept at opening cupboards and getting into off-limit rooms-and out of closed off rooms as well. Be careful what you teach them, however if jumping on your stomach at three in the morning gets you up to feed them even once, they’ll jump on your stomach in the wee hours forevermore.
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Bobtails also enjoy a good conversation they have chirping voices that produce a wide range of tones some breeders describe this as “singing.” Because of their high intelligence, Bobtails readily learn behaviors usually reserved for the canine crowd, such as fetching and learning to walk on a lead. They want to be involved with their human companions and are more than willing to lend a paw when you need it-and even when you don’t. Bobtails are very active they are ever-present companions that stop short of being clingy. They’re bold, intelligent, and energetic, and easily adjust to new people, situations, and animals, making them good show cats. Fearless and fierce as samurai warriors when on the hunt for a roving rodent or catnip mouse, Japanese Bobtails nevertheless passionately adore their human families and spend much of their waking hours at their favorite human’s side, chirping quiet queries and sticking curious noses into everyone’s business. But they’re not just for admiring they also possess a personality that will make you purr. Search Articles: Submit Search Close Search FavoritesĪs elegant and clever as a Haiku, Japanese Bobtails are living works of art with their sculptured bodies, pert bobbed tails, alert ears, and large window-to-the-soul eyes.