Japanese photographer Masahisa Fukase grew up around felines and photography. So maybe it’s not so surprising that photographing cats became one of his primary obsessions. While the people around him came and went, in part due to his obsession with his art, cats were always there for him.
“In my 40 years on earth, a cat has always hung around me like a shadow,” Fukase wrote in a 1978 essay.
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In the end, the felines he captured on film became part of his purrmanent legacy. To him, it probably would have made sense. He was an expert cat photographer and trusted them more than humans. And while he managed to drive away people with his constant picture-taking, the cats didn’t mind. Another favorite subject were the crows and ravens around him.
Image credits: From Masahisa Fukase, “Sasuke”, (Atelier EXB, 2021) © Archives Masahisa Fukase via Instagram/masahisafukase
“People often ask me why I take photographs of cats,” the late Japanese photographer Masahisa Fukase wrote in 1978. “What an idiotic question! I’m a professional photographer — and I am mad about cats … It makes total sense. No one else comes close to the wealth of my experience with cats; no one understands their feelings better; and no one has spent more hours playing around with them in a mountain lodge.”
Image credits: From Masahisa Fukase, “Sasuke”, (Atelier EXB, 2021) © Archives Masahisa Fukase via Instagram/masahisafukase
Fukase’s Kitten Sasuke and Sasuke Number Two
Fukase’s second marriage included cats: a Siamese cat, Kobo, and a black cat named Hebo.
Image credits: From Masahisa Fukase, “Sasuke”, (Atelier EXB, 2021) © Archives Masahisa Fukase via Instagram/masahisafukase
The two cats appeared in his pictures from the 60s in a book called Wonderful Days. Unfortunately, his marriages were fleeting.
Image credits: From Masahisa Fukase, “Sasuke”, (Atelier EXB, 2021) © Archives Masahisa Fukase via Instagram/masahisafukase
You can see the cats, along with his ex-wife Yoko Wanibe, in the video by Celephaïs below:
Sasuke the Ninja Kitten Disappears
After Yoko left and his photographer father passed away, a solitary Fukase moved to Tokyo in 1977 and adopted a “tiny, tiny” kitten named Sasuke after a cartoon ninja. Initially, he adopted the kitten to help with a rat infestation, but he proved to be a fascinating company as well. Unfortunately, the kitten got out of his apartment and vanished like his ninja namesake.
The original Sasuke, 1977. Photograph by Masahisa Fukase via The New Yorker
Fukase desperately tried to find his furry friend, hanging posters in his neighborhood. When a woman responded, he was surprised to learn she had found a different kitten instead. But he decided to keep him, naming him Sasuke Number Two.
Image credits: From Masahisa Fukase, “Sasuke”, (Atelier EXB, 2021) © Archives Masahisa Fukase via Instagram/masahisafukase
This cute kitten became the muse of a series of photographs published in several books in the 70s.
Image credits: From Masahisa Fukase, “Sasuke”, (Atelier EXB, 2021) © Archives Masahisa Fukase via Instagram/masahisafukase
More recently, another book called “Afterward,” features his cat meowdels preserved forever in time. They show a unique perspective and composition as if taken from the cat’s viewpoint.
“That year I took a lot of pictures crawling on my stomach to be at eye level with a cat and, in a way, that made me a cat. It was a job full of joy, taking these photos playing with what I liked, in accordance with the changes of nature,” he wrote.
Image credits: From Masahisa Fukase, “Sasuke”, (Atelier EXB, 2021) © Archives Masahisa Fukase via Instagram/masahisafukase
Video by Pets Historical:
Sasuke’s Photographer Papa
In reflection, these moments seem to have been among the artist’s happiest, with a focus on the kitten’s comical antics.
Image credits: From Masahisa Fukase, “Sasuke”, (Atelier EXB, 2021) © Archives Masahisa Fukase via Instagram/masahisafukase
He called himself Sasuke’s “papa” and took the kitten with him, traveling on the train to the zoo, the seaside, and wherever he went. A year later, he adopted another cat, Momoe, a fine companion for Susuke.
“I wonder if any other photographer in the world has photographed as many cat yawns as I have,” Fukase wrote.
Image credits: From Masahisa Fukase, “Sasuke”, (Atelier EXB, 2021) © Archives Masahisa Fukase via Instagram/masahisafukase
As with his other subjects, the photographer viewed the pictures as projections of himself and wasn’t interested in their “grace or cuteness.” But they gave him a model to document his life in all its fleeting moments.
“I spent so much time lying on my belly in an effort to get on the same level as a cat,: Fukase wrote in 1978, “that I became a cat … I saw myself reflected in the cats’ eyes. I wanted to photograph the love that I saw there. You might say it’s a collection of self-portraits more than shots of Sasuke and Momo.”
Image credits: From Masahisa Fukase, “Sasuke”, (Atelier EXB, 2021) © Archives Masahisa Fukase via Instagram/masahisafukase
Throughout his career, he was intensely aware of how fleeting life is, capturing each moment frame by frame. After he fell in 1992, Fukase went into a coma at the age of 58. Afterward, he remained on life support until his death in 2012. During those years, his ex-wife was a frequent visitor to the hospital. Perhaps, he was dreaming of sharing more time together along with feline friends. We can see the love and joy he found with them in his photographs.
Image credits: From Masahisa Fukase, “Sasuke”, (Atelier EXB, 2021) © Archives Masahisa Fukase via Instagram/masahisafukaseVideo by Legend Photographers about Masahisa Fukasa’s feline muses:
Image credits: From Masahisa Fukase, “Sasuke”, (Atelier EXB, 2021) © Archives Masahisa Fukase via Instagram/masahisafukase
