During the Edo period, cats that licked the oil from lanterns were known as haunted cats, and many kabuki and nishiki-e prints were created based on their appearance. In addition to vegetable oils such as rapeseed, fish and whale oil were also traded cheaply in those days, and were sometimes smelled when lit.
Cats are naturally carnivorous, but in the absence of pet food they were often fed human food, and in the rice-based diet of Edo they were chronically deficient in oil-based nutrition. Known as “haunted cats”, they would lick the oil from lanterns out of necessity.
There was a time, after the Meiji era’s policy of prosperity and military strength, when Japan tried to catch up with foreign countries by strengthening its people’s bodies with dairy products. However, when it was difficult to produce butter due to a lack of resources, or when a large supply was needed, margarine (then called artificial butter), which was cheap and could be produced in large quantities, came in handy. Today’s margarine is mostly vegetable-based, but back then, fish and whale oil were used in addition to vegetable oil.
Vegetable, fish and whale oil. Substituted nutrition. Cats licked oil from lanterns and people ate margarine. Who was the one they called the monster cat then?
I will create a voice from the sound of kneading oil and tell a story of kneading the past and the future in the combined form of cat and human.
Aoi Nakamura

Event

April 14th (sun)
Opening reception
17:00 Start
Admission: 1000 yen (with light catering＋one drink)

April 20th (sat)
Talk
Guest : Kazuki Oishi (sculptor)
19:30 Start
Admission: 1000 yen (with one drink)

April 21th (sun)
Ongoing School
17:00 Start
Artists will give a talk about the exhibition.
Admission: 1000 yen(with cake and drink)