Kanazawa cat - Kanazawaneko

… [Mizuho Sawada]
[Japan]
They are said to have been introduced to Japan around the Nara period, and there is a theory that they were imported along with valuable Buddhist scriptures to protect them from damage by mice. During the Kamakura period, Kanazawa Bunko imported good cats from Song China to protect the many books they held from mice, and these cats were called Kanazawa cats, a name that remained until the early modern period. As pets, they were kept by members of upper class society in the Heian period, as can be seen in The Pillow Book, where cats are kept at the Imperial Court, but eventually they became widely kept by the general public.

*Some of the terminology that refers to "Kanazawa cat" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…【沢田 瑞穂】
［日本］
　日本には奈良時代ころに渡来したといわれ，貴重な経典類をネズミの害から防ぐために，それらとともに輸入されたという説もある。鎌倉時代に，金沢文庫では多量の典籍をネズミから守るために宋からよい猫を輸入し，これらは金沢猫と呼ばれて近世までその名が残ったという。愛玩用としては，平安時代には《枕草子》に宮中の飼猫のことがみえるように，上流社会で飼われていたが，やがて広く一般に飼われるようになった。…

※「金沢猫」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報