The Uda tennō gyoki (宇多天皇御記) is the personal diary of Emperor Uda, the 59th emperor of Japan. It contains the oldest surviving written record of a pet cat in Japanese history.

In a quiet hour, I find myself wishing to write about my cat.

There is one black cat.

Minamoto no Kuwashi brought him to court when he returned from his service in Dazaifu and presented him to my late father, the Emperor. His coloring is unlike that of any other cat I have seen. Other black cats are only somewhat dark. This one alone is black as ink.

His appearance is rather like a fine hunting hound. He is a foot and five inches long and perhaps six inches high.

When he curls himself up, he becomes as small and compact as a grain of black millet. When he stretches himself out, he is long like a drawn bow.

His eyes glitter brilliantly, dazzling as the points of needles. The tips of his ears stand perfectly upright and do not tremble.

When he lies down and curls himself into a circle, neither his feet nor his tail can be seen. He looks for all the world like a polished black jewel resting in its hollow.

When he walks, he makes no sound at all.

He moves like a black dragon passing silently through the clouds.

By nature he seems fond of stretching and exercising his body, almost as though he understood the ancient exercises of the Five Animals. He lowers his head and tail toward the ground and arches his back astonishingly high. Perhaps this is why his coat has such a beautiful gloss.

And he is an excellent hunter. At night he catches mice more swiftly than other cats.

My late father delighted in him for several days and then gave him to me. I have cared for him now for five years. Every morning I give him milk porridge.

It is not merely because he is unusually clever and agile that I cherish him. He was given to me by my father. Though he is only a small creature, for that reason especially I have grown deeply attached to him and have taken particular pleasure in raising him.

And so I said to him:

“You possess the forces of yin and yang within you, and you have been given a body complete with limbs and senses. If you have a heart, surely you understand how I feel about you.”

At this, the cat sighed.

He raised his head and looked up into my face.

It seemed as though his breast were full of feeling, but he had no words with which to speak.