SACRED "KIMONO" CAT

Evening Star, Issue 19723, 25 November 1927, Page 11

SACRED "KIMONO" CAT

I am told that every cat in Japan which is born with a certain marking is considered as sacred—at least by some sects or some portion of the public, It is held to contain tho soul of an ancestor, and is sent to a temple (writes Lilian J. Veley, D.Ss., in ‘ Cat Gossip,’ concerning one of these cats). No such cat would ever be parted with; this one, 1 was informed, was stolen by a Chinese servant, and carried on board a ship. Hero it became the property of an English officer, who would have wished to return it to its temple, but dared not do so ou account of the feeling aroused by the theft. It was brought borne, and eventually came into the possession of an English family 311 Putney, who respected its traditions, and witli whom it enjoyed a happy home and lived to an honored old age. The cat was black and white in color, the black patch on the back being the “sacred” mark—which is Supposed to resemble a woman in a kimono.