[Picture Book] "The Cat That Lived a Million Times" ~Living Your Own Life~
Synopsis
There was a cat that lived for a million years.
It died a million times, and it lived a million times.
It was a magnificent tabby cat.
A million people loved that cat, and a million people cried when it died.
The cat did not cry even once.
A mysterious story about a magnificent tabby cat that makes you feel something different every time you read it.
Impressions
I first encountered "The Cat That Lived a Million Times" when I was in my teens.
When I read it for the first time, I was moved by the depth of the story.
Now, I read it while projecting myself onto the contents of this picture book.
Actually, I have been divorced. I married in my early 20s and divorced after about two years.
(In my 20s, I rushed through graduating from university, finding a job, getting married, divorcing, finding a new job, and remarrying...)
In my previous marriage, I lived in an unfamiliar place, couldn't continue working as I wanted, wasn't blessed with children, and the misunderstandings with my partner just kept increasing...
I spent my days feeling resentful, wondering if I could truly say I was living my own life.
Even though I had chosen it myself, I couldn't find what I wanted to do or a sense of fulfillment in that situation.
Thinking about my future life, I put an end to my two-year marriage.
After that, I found a new job, and while living a new life, I met my current husband.
Eventually, I shared my life with him, and we were blessed with the precious existence of a child...
I began to feel the joy of loving and being loved.
I feel that this experience overlaps with "The Cat That Lived a Million Times".
To me, the themes of this picture book are
"reincarnating over and over until you know true love"
and "living your own life"
.
Perhaps, while repeating reincarnation, the cat was searching for a reason to live or a sense of fulfillment somewhere in its heart.
When it was reincarnated for the millionth time, the cat came to love itself, not belonging to anyone.
One day, it met a white cat.
At this time, for the first time, the cat approached the other not passively, but of its own volition.
And so, it created an existence more precious and dear than itself. The joy and sadness it felt from loving and being loved.
For the millionth time, couldn't it be said that the cat finally "lived its own life"?
We cannot come back to life over and over like the cat in the picture book.
We cannot redo what has passed, but we can start over as many times as we want.
Since we only have one life, I want to live it carefully so that even if there are failures, I have no regrets.
***
From here on, a story about my son.
When I read this picture book to him, before turning the last page, I asked my son,
"Do you think the cat will come back to life again?"
Then he replied,
"Hmm, I don't think it will come back to life."
He might not have understood the true meaning of the story, but I wonder if he felt in his own way that this was the climax.
Just as I came to feel the contents of the picture book more deeply after aging and experiencing many things, I hope my son will also enjoy how his perception of the picture book changes as he grows.
Bibliographic Information
"The Cat That Lived a Million Times"
Written and Illustrated by: Yoko Sano
Publisher: Kodansha
Year of Publication: 1977
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I am submitting this entry for the Media Pal project.