It Reminded Me Of Over Where

Geisha Cat

“It reminded me of Over Where,” said my friend, Cale Mims, after I had unwrapped the bookmark he presented me as a gift on New Year’s Day.  It featured (as the photo above shows) a metal figure of a calico cat in Japanese garb.  Although it looks as if it could be from a modern manga, the accompanying tag identified it as a “geisha cat,” taken from a print by ukiyo-e woodblock print artist, Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861).

I was thrilled both by the gift and that Cale had thought of my books when he saw it.  After years of holding myself back, in my new Over Where series, I let myself indulge my lifelong fondness for therianthropic figures, by making three such (called “sennutep” in the series) three of my main characters.

In the weeks before Christmas, I did a series of Wanderings focusing in on the main characters, so readers of these Wanderings (and maybe even of the books) are probably already familiar with Xerak, Grunwold, and Vereez. 

The bookmark included a little text explaining why Utagawa Kuniyoshi had chosen to depict geishas with the traits of cats.  This “was the artist’s way of avoiding the censorship laws imposed in Japan in the 1840’s.  These laws prohibited conspicuous displays of wealth, irreverence or negativity toward authority, and anything that was sexually provocative.”

It’s interesting to note that one of the other figures in the original print is depicted topless, indulging in a cat bath.  I guess this was a challenge to the censorship of sexually provocative figures.

So, I have a new addition to my considerable collection of therianthropic figures, and some new things to think about.  Delightful!