"I once spoke to it, saying, “You embody both yin and yang energies, complete with all your faculties and senses. If indeed you have a heart, surely you must understand me?” The cat sighed deeply, lifted its head, and gazed up into my face. It seemed filled with deep emotion, unable to speak." - - - - - - - - - Forgive my very un-academic post here, but any cat-lover today would have tears in their eyes reading the above, written over a thousand years ago. I did.
Interesting, I just came across the quote and was doing a bit of research around it. Thanks for the clarifications.
"I once spoke to it, saying, “You embody both yin and yang energies, complete with all your faculties and senses. If indeed you have a heart, surely you must understand me?” The cat sighed deeply, lifted its head, and gazed up into my face. It seemed filled with deep emotion, unable to speak." - - - - - - - - - Forgive my very un-academic post here, but any cat-lover today would have tears in their eyes reading the above, written over a thousand years ago. I did.
Yes, the erroneous translation (which seems to come from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/japans-love-hate-relationship-with-cats-180975764/ ) is definitely wrong. For another reference/translation establishing that, see ‘Some Literary Aspects of 4 <em>Kambun</em> Diaries of the Japanese Court: Translation with Commentaries on Excerpts from <em>Uda Tennō Gyoki</em>, <em>Murakami Tennō Gyoki</em>, <em>Gonki</em>, and <em>Gyokuyō</em>’, Rabinovitch & Minegishi 1992 https://gwern.net/doc/japan/history/1992-rabinovitch.pdf (excerpts: https://gwern.net/ref/rabinovitch-minegishi-1992 )