The 800-year-old puppy
This is a small replica of my favorite Japanese artwork. The original is a wooden statue of a puppy.
Eight hundred years ago it belonged to a Kyoto monk named Myōe (1173–1232).
Toy replica of a very old puppy statue
My toy version is a faithful reproduction right down to the texture of the wood, but it looks new. The original has a gorgeous patina. You can see photos and a short video of the original on the Kosanji temple website.
A while ago I led a seminar called “Kawaii: The Emergence and Evolution of Cuteness in Japanese Girls’ Culture” for the Japan Foundation, New York. Something odd happened during my talk when I showed images of the wooden puppy.
Japan Foundation New York workshop on kawaii
My aunt and uncle were watching online in Vermont and when the puppy appeared on their computer screen their dog, Dell, began to bark. Dell often barks when he sees another dog on TV but this is the first time he did it to a puppy made of wood, and an 800-year-old one at that!
Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
As far as I know, Europe didn’t produce sculptures of dogs that were this cute until five hundred years later when a fad for porcelain pugs began. This Meissen pug from 1745 is pretty cute, yet I still prefer the Japanese example from half a millennium prior. My research to find earlier examples of cuteness in European art is ongoing.
