November 22, 2008

Dreaming Big

A cat gazing at a statue of a shachihoko. I always assumed the cat was seeing it with food on his mind, longingly thinking of the delicious meal it would provide.

But then I realized that a shachihoko isn't exactly a fish; with the head of a tiger and the body of a fish, it's actually a tiger-fish. Even the kanji, 鯱, is a combination of 魚 (fish) and 虎 (tiger).

So which was the cat reacting to, the shachihoko as kindred spirit or possible prey?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think the cat is waiting for a chance to be revealed if it is its friend or a food.