Nishida Tadashige – Innocence 2 – Pale Blue Cat

Original woodblock print, hand-signed and numbered 21/150 by the artist. First published in 2013.

The closest English translation of the kanji above the cat is “innocence”. The meaning is slightly different, however, as it refers to a childlike carefree and happy innocence. The separate kanji characters refer to the universe and being right, so it might be taken to mean that it refers to being in line with how the universe intended things to be, and to radiating brightness. All in all, it is easy to see how this applies to the cat, who is natural, unspoiled, and is exactly the way he is intended to be.

Image size (excluding margins): 40.0 * 25.5 cm (15.7 * 10.0 in).

The print is in very good state. There are some more oily spots in the golden background, part of the printing process. There are wrinkles in the margins.

The pictures shown here are from the print itself.

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Nishida Tadashige (b. 1942) is a famous Japanese woodblock print artist. His cat prints is what he is best known for, of which you can find many below. These are all high quality woodblock prints, hand-signed by the artist in limited editions. Though subjective, the cat prints are often considered remarkable in the way they succeed in conveying the different moods and characters of the cats shown.

See an overview of Nishida Tadashige's woodblock prints