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When
you hear the word rat/mice, what do you imagine?
Mickey Mouse, 'Tom & Jelly' or perhaps those
little friends running around in the roof in the
middle of the night? Although detested as pests in
some communities, the quick and tiny rats have
generally been a favoured animal motif throughout the
world.
As rats have a strong reproductive power, in China
they have been considered as a symbol of prosperity
from the ancient time. Also symbolizing the birth of
life, rats come in the first place of the twelve
Chinese zodiacs.
Similarly in Japan, rats are viewed as an auspicious
animal. There are many old Japanese stories and folk
tales related to rats, for example the most popular
ones being 'The White Mouse and the Coin' and 'Chikaramochi';
in either story, the rat plays a part in discovering
money and treasures. There was even a popular thief
nicknamed 'nezumi-kozou (rat kid)' in the Edo period
who broke into the storehouses of evil official's and
merchant's and stole money for the poor.
Rats in Japanese antiques and kimono motifs are not so
much deformed, but are often realistically rendered
with a certain ambience and charm. They are usually
depicted with another object to create a meaning. For
example, together with a treasure boat or a coin, of
course the rat signifies wealth and happiness. In some
situations, it may be depicted with a radish, which is
a cheap but very important vegetable in the Japanese
cuisine. In the Japanese language, the corresponding
words to 'eat the radish' is 'daikonn-wo-kurau' in a
slightly rough way. The people in the past thought
that the word sounded similar to 'Daikoku', the god of
wealth, therefore rats came to be held with high
esteem or even as a messenger of the god.
What kind of rats are there around you that may bring
wealth and happiness?
* There are no Japanese word that specifically matches
with the English word 'rat' and 'mice'. Both species
are called 'nezumi' in Japanese.
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