Why a cat isn't in the Chinese Astrology

Whew! Today was a busy day for me. To express such a situation, we say "Neko no temo karitai!" It means "I want help even from cats." Cats are very popular pets in Japan. Actually, I have many friends who spoil their cats. As I wrote in the Bakeneko post, we have many negative words and phrases relating to cats.

"Neko ni koban" (a coin to a cat) = Don't offer thing to people who are incapable of appreciating them (similar to the English phrase "Pearls before swine").

"Neko no hitai hodo semai" (narrow like a cat's forehead) = too narrow and small a place.

"Neko no meno yoni" (like a cat's eye) = as changeable as a chameleon.

Some Asian countries have the Earthly Branches, or as we say, Chinese Astrological Animal Signs / Zodiac. Except for the dragon, it is made up of very common animals. So why is the cat not one of them? Basically it came from China, so what Japan has is a funny anecdote.

One day God said he would choose 12 animals as symbols of the years in the calendar cycle. He would choose them in the order they came to him on New Year's Day. The animals were excited and waited for the New Year. But the cat forgot when he was supposed to visit. He asked the rat, who purposely told him to arrive a day late. The cat missed his chance and this is the reason cats hate rats. But look at this, this cat is afraid of a rat. Oh, and I melted when I saw this movie too!

It's a lovely story, isn't it? And when I checked the story, I found the Mongols and even the Russians had this Earthly Branch system, and Thailand, Vietnam, the Mongols, and Belarus have a cat in their Earthly Branches. Wow, I didn't know that.

Anyway, I went to the Figure Complex. It is smaller than I supposed but there were waitresses wearing blond, bob-style wigs, tight jackets, shorts, and knee-high boots. They are very cute. I will have an update about this later on Japanzine.

Comments

[Chris]

Hi Mari. Yeah, Fruits Basket is a very popular Japanese anime and manga here in the States. Here is the official Japanese website for the anime: http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/fruits_basket/.
And here is the official US distributor's website: http://www.fruits-basket.com/.

It's a sentimental slice-of-life anime that revolves around the Chinese Zodiac legends. It's a fun series.

Chris

[Mari]

Hi There Fruit Basket?! I did not know that.

[Chris]

The very cool manga and anime, Fruits Basket (フルーツバスケット) is centered almost entirely around the zodiac legends -- and has a particularly funny and nice retelling of the why the cat isn't in the zodiac.

Chris

[AzianBrewer]

The Vietnamese replaced rabbit with cat in their zodiac. Tiger is a feline and technically speaking it is a cat.