#the shapes of most of the fish strike me as distinctly japanese but I see more western influence in some of the cats

[mizukagami-takamagahara]

Crest Analysis = Taokaka

I was messing around with some stuff today, and somehow ended up really staring at Taokaka’s crest.  After hours of wasting my day staring at this, I realized...

It’s Cats.  It’s All Cats.

It’s pretty easy to see that the whole crest itself is a cat’s face.  We’ve got a big toothy grin (much like Tao’s) and a little nose, whiskers on either side, some eyes and ears.

The expression on the cat’s face here (the big mouth and how the eyes are designed) makes me think of the Komainu statues seen in Japan/Shishi statues seen in China and of Chinese lion dancer puppets.  Though when I pull up pictures to compare, I find it more difficult to pinpoint the common thread that’s making my brain associate the imagery.  Like, it’s definitely there, but I’m unable to articulate it, and it may be a link that only exists in my own head.

But outside of the main face, there are tons of cats making up the crest.  Here’s all the ones I was able to find.

First we have the most prominent duo at the bottom of the crest.  We’ve got two mirrored cats.  The entirety of their head/ears are pretty apparent.  We can see one of their legs stretched out and displaying their claws, and two other legs lower down the body.  The loop connecting them could be their tails, though the lines above that also look like tails on these images.  Beside both of their heads we see a little circular image that, alongside all the other cat theming, looks to me like a paw print.

So, if we count the whole face of the Crest as one cat, these give us... Cat Count: 3

Now we’re moving on to the cats that I never noticed until I really analyzed the Crest.  The ears on the cat’s face???  They’re cats.  On the left here I circled the whole cat/ear, while on the right I’ve doodled a bit to show the cat’s head, whiskers, front legs, visible back leg, and tail.

But I’m not even done with THIS image.  While highlighting this, I found more cats.

We got another lil’ cat connected to the ear cats.  What would this be?  An eyebrow cat???  I’m not sure, but let’s take a closer look- I’ll trace the one on the right, like one would a constellation, and circle the same part on the left.

^ This bit here???  Ears. ^

^ Front and back legs ^

And by now you probably saw the tail yourself.

No cats connected to THESE ones, as far as I can tell, so that means Cat Count: 7

Next we’ve got another prominent set of cats that are, as far as I can tell, not hiding or connected to any smaller cats.  It’s just these guys, on either side of the face, right above the whiskers.

We can see the ears, head, nose, arguably an eye- though if it’s open or closed depends on how you interpret the image- and we see another extended arm with some claws out.

This is paralleled on the other side of the face, which means Cat Count: 9

But wait.  What’s that???  Right between the topmost whisker and the one below...

You may call this a stretch, but you know what I’m calling it?  A cat.  And again it’s paralleled on the other side of the Crest.

I would also be inclined to argue that this chunk here resembles another outstretched arm with two claws displayed, given the shapes making up said ‘claws,’ but with no face attached to that arm I won’t be adding it or its mirror to the count.

Cat Count: 11

And you know what I see when looking at the eyes???  More cats.  Three for each eye, specifically.  On the right here I’ve just blocked out the eye, while on the left I’ve circled each individual cat shape, as I see it.

Which, unless I’m missing stuff, leaves us with... Total Cat Count:  17

And even all this rambling doesn’t account for all the long lines with curved ends that could look like cat tails.  I’d be here all day if I tried to count those for you though if you ask, I might give it a shot.  Or the many sets of three parallel lines often used in art to suggest (cat) scratch marks.  OR the overlapping lines seen in the nose that, again, suggest scratches.

NOR am I counting all the FISH hidden in the Crest.  There are so many fish in this image.  I’m counting 20 at a glance.  Wait, no, 22.  Actually I could add to that if I was willing to get a little more abstract...  Hell, more, if you’re willing to say that the images making up the most notable fish’s spines also look like a different kind of fish...

If you want the final fish count, let me know.