Sunday, November 1, 2009

Meow, Meow ... I am a (nicer) Cat



"不管 黑猫白猫,抓住耗子就是好猫! "邓小平

Cats are among the most common pets in the world. The man and cat relationship can be dated back to 8000 years ago.

During the Pharaohs day, cats freely roamed the land at will. Laws were created at that time to protect cats. In fact, it was considered a capital crime to kill or injure a cat, even if the cat died through an unfortunate accident.

An good example would be, if a house caught fire, people are first to recuse the cat before human. The rule stated something like this—cats first, humans second.

If a cat should die of natural causes the entire household went into elaborate mourning with chanting and pounding of chests as an outward sign of grief. The body of the cat had to be wrapped in linen and delivered to the priest who inspected the cat's body to be certain the cat had died a natural death.


If the cat belong to an Egyptian noble, it would receive more extravagant burial status. While the body of a noble's and worker's cat were carefully prepared and the embalming carried out with the same conscientiousness as for a human body, the noble' cat usually come with provisions for the afterlife such as pots of milk and even mummified mice.

One can appreciation by looking the colossal tomb at the temple of Bast discovered in 1888 by a farmer. This tomb, outside of Beni Hasan, held more than nineteen tonnes of animal mummies and remains, the vast majority being cats but a number of mongooses, dogs and foxes.

[note: If you visit UK, take the oppounity to visit the British Museum to see some of these specimens]


Due to it noble status, a religious in the order of cat worship was developed, and it lasted about 2,000 years. The cat goddess Bastet was developed into an ummense popular and important deity that represent fetility, motherhood, and protection. Bastet had the body of a woman and the head of a cat.

The cult of the cat had a huge number of follower, and thousands of pilgrims journeyed each year to Bubastis to celebrate. Bubastis is the chief centre of worship for the goddess Bast and located east of the Nile Delta became an important city because the cult. Bubastis also became another name by which the goddess was known.


Egyptians are not the only group of people who has unique relationship with cat. The Muslim theology maintains that the prophet Muhammad once found a cat sleeping on his robe, and he did not wake it. So he cut a hole through his robe so as not to disturb the cat.

This reverence can also be found in ancient Indian texts, where records of cats involved with human society can be found in two ancient Indian great epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Hindu and Parsee religions respected all forms of life and were especially sympathetic towards cats. It mentioned briefly that all good Hindus were expected to take care of at least one cat during their lives.


Bring the time back to present, it look like Sailor starting to have a unique relationship with cat with this new CHINKIN Supreme limited Edition fountain pen. This Special CHINKIN Supreme is hand crafted by no others but artist Kiyoshi Torige, who was privately trained by the late Mar Taiho, the living National Tresure in Chinkin techniques.


Mr. has won numerous awards in exhibits affilated with the prestigious Japan Traditional Crafts Exhibition. These are judged by the critical eyes of the Living National Treasures.

In order to complete this Special CHINKIN Supreme really special, the world renowned Nib Designer Nobuysohi Nagahara, crafted the "Naginata Cross-Point" nib for this pen. This special nib is crafted using two pen nibs together on top of one another, with special tipping materials applied to it, and then uniquely slit into a Cross at the tip.


This special nib will give user the feel like "writing with a brush pen itself". The nib allows a variety of writing strokes at all different writing angles. It is good for broad strokes, as well as reversed to write in fine broad.


The Sailor Special CHINKIN Surpreme limited edition is produced strictly in 10 pieces worldwide. We are very lucky to be able to catch the "cat" when it first land here in Singapore.


We hope you will enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoy looking at the actual pen. We are not sure of it is still available, but you can always check it out at Fook Hing Trading and other retailors.

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