
Cats Forming the Characters for Catfish
Woodcut print
Surprisingly, this isn't a pun. The Japanese word for "catfish" (namazu/なまず) doesn't contain the word "cat"; it is theorised to originate from the fish's slimy nature. Although the characters that the cats form are phonetic kana, the kanji rendition of the term doesn't contain "cat" either. Instead, this work is part of a series involving cats taking on the shape of a multitude of marine terms - including pufferfish (fugu) and octopus (tako).