Bobtail cats in Japan bring good luck, especially for Nagasaki city
Nagasaki bobtails have their roots in the Dutch East Indies when the city was Japan’s only foreign port in the 17th to 19th centuries
They are known as omagari neko (bent-tail cats) or kagi neko and have their own society of admirers and even a dedicated Shinto shrine.
Their tails come in varieties including hook-shaped at the tip, curved or in a bun, explained Kazuya Hideshima, a worker at Omagari Neko Shrine and member of the Nagasaki Cat Society.
Past findings have indicated bobtails accounted for nearly 80 per cent of the cats in Nagasaki, twice the occurrence of anywhere else in Japan.
Japanese cats are believed to have come from China in the 6th century with Buddhist monks, serving as rat hunters to protect religious scriptures on ships.
Nagasaki bobtails have their roots in the Dutch East Indies when the city was the only foreign port during Japan’s closed era in the 17th to 19th centuries. They hunted rats to protect shipments on their way from Southeast Asia to Japan, according to Nagasaki cultural officials.