Black cat

A kacho-e in subject only — Yumeji's animal images, like his figures, prioritize mood over zoological precision. The black cat carries layered associations: a Japanese folkloric symbol of luck or witchcraft, and via European Symbolism the silhouette of Theophile Steinlen's 1896 Chat Noir cabaret poster, an image widely reproduced in the Jugendstil periodicals Yumeji consumed. The print likely renders the cat as a flat near-silhouette against a contrasting ground — a graphic strategy compatible both with Art Nouveau poster design and with the simplified, bold-outline manner Yumeji had developed across his magazine illustration practice. The carving, executed posthumously from his original drawing, would emphasize a single fluid contour rather than the textural fur effects of late shin-hanga kacho-e. Cats appear repeatedly across Yumeji's work as companions to his women, indexing domestic intimacy and quiet interiority rather than functioning as standalone naturalistic studies in the manner of Ohara Koson.