In the mid-2010s images and videos of jumping cats began to be uploaded on the internet. They were taken on the Sanagishima island. In the photos were cats jumping over gaps between dykes along the sea.
Since then tourists have visited the Sanagishima island expecting to see cats jumping over the gaps between dykes, but we, visiting the island in the mid summer, find no cats around the jump spots. In a hot sunny day cats are resting in shades, non of them wants to come to the shore in the torrid sunlight.
In a sunny midsummer day no cats are in the jump spots.
We, however, never think that we have come to the Sanagishima island in a wrong season, because in August we can see a lot of cute kittens there.
A litter of kittens playing around their mom
The kittens play a lot. In spite of hot weather, they exercise enthusiastically without showing any signs of fatigue.
Two kittens are practicing stalking through grass.
Two kittens are engaged in pseudo-predatory play.
The play of kittens seems conducted basically in order to develop their hunting skills, but part of it would play a roll of developing their jumping skills.
Before going to the jump spots, anyway, kittens have a lot of things to do in the village, where they will learn how to be good jumpers.
A kitten in a street gutter watches an adult cat jumping over him.
Jumping skills are not all what is required for jumpers. The jumpers need to bear in mind the structure of the jumping spots.
In a jump spot, a cat jump the gap in such a procedure. The first step is to climb the wall.
A Kitten who knows well that she first has to begin practicing climbing a wall, wanders about for a climbing gym in the village.
In the village are a lot of obstacles. She encounters a bicycle wheel which she tries to go through.
Why does she bother to go through the bicycle wheel instead of detouring it? That reminds us of the quote of the rock climber Chris Sharma;
The kitten manages to go through the bicycle wheel and arrives at a climbing gym.
Soon she finds a spot to climb the wall.
She began to climb the wall without a harness nor a rope. It is called bouldering. Bouldering is the simplest form of climbing, so it is relatively easy for a beginner to begin.
Right after this photo was taken, she fell from the wall. What happened to her?
The reasons why a beginner fails in bouldering are said to be lack of finger strength, sloppy footwork, lack of stamina, and so on, but in her case, the major cause of the failure would be at her left front paw which mistakenly caught her mom's tail.
Fall could cause injury, but she knew how to prevent it. She made a safe landing in a flawless manner. She seemed to know well her body and what worked best for her. She, though having fallen from the wall, seemed to fit the bill as a good climber and jumper.
Other kittens likewise exercise a lot. I cannot help being amazed by the kittens who, in such a hot sunny day while adult cats are resting in shades, continue the practice of climbing and jumping. Where does their energy come from? They move so incessantly that we, researchers, have to keep eyes on them. That is the issue. A researcher is obliged to spend hours to follow kittens one after another to take photos and videos of them. Every single movement of the kittens is worth to be analyzed from physical training viewpoints. It takes unexpectedly long time: he cannot manage his schedule anymore.
Eventually came the time to leave the island. The last ship of the day (non-HMS Shin-Nagisa II) came to pick up the tourists at the jetty in Honura port.
In the ship's ticket office is a piebald cat who gives tourists a farewell glance.
The exploration on the Sanagishima thus ended halfway. The research was all carried out in Honura village, while there was another village, Nagasaki, around two kilometers north of Honura, where I could have found other types of cats who might be different from those in Honura by nature or by nurture, when light might have been thrown on the origin of friendly cat and his or her history.
Since then tourists have visited the Sanagishima island expecting to see cats jumping over the gaps between dykes, but we, visiting the island in the mid summer, find no cats around the jump spots. In a hot sunny day cats are resting in shades, non of them wants to come to the shore in the torrid sunlight.
In a sunny midsummer day no cats are in the jump spots.
We, however, never think that we have come to the Sanagishima island in a wrong season, because in August we can see a lot of cute kittens there.
A litter of kittens playing around their mom
The kittens play a lot. In spite of hot weather, they exercise enthusiastically without showing any signs of fatigue.
Two kittens are practicing stalking through grass.
Two kittens are engaged in pseudo-predatory play.
The play of kittens seems conducted basically in order to develop their hunting skills, but part of it would play a roll of developing their jumping skills.
Before going to the jump spots, anyway, kittens have a lot of things to do in the village, where they will learn how to be good jumpers.
A kitten in a street gutter watches an adult cat jumping over him.
Jumping skills are not all what is required for jumpers. The jumpers need to bear in mind the structure of the jumping spots.
In a jump spot, a cat jump the gap in such a procedure. The first step is to climb the wall.
A Kitten who knows well that she first has to begin practicing climbing a wall, wanders about for a climbing gym in the village.
In the village are a lot of obstacles. She encounters a bicycle wheel which she tries to go through.
Why does she bother to go through the bicycle wheel instead of detouring it? That reminds us of the quote of the rock climber Chris Sharma;
When you do hard routes, you have to try hard. They’re not easy routes. You have to give everything you have. You have to get totally animalistic.It is conceivable that the kitten goes the hard route as a warming-up procedure in which she can get totally animalistic.
The kitten manages to go through the bicycle wheel and arrives at a climbing gym.
Soon she finds a spot to climb the wall.
She began to climb the wall without a harness nor a rope. It is called bouldering. Bouldering is the simplest form of climbing, so it is relatively easy for a beginner to begin.
Right after this photo was taken, she fell from the wall. What happened to her?
The reasons why a beginner fails in bouldering are said to be lack of finger strength, sloppy footwork, lack of stamina, and so on, but in her case, the major cause of the failure would be at her left front paw which mistakenly caught her mom's tail.
Fall could cause injury, but she knew how to prevent it. She made a safe landing in a flawless manner. She seemed to know well her body and what worked best for her. She, though having fallen from the wall, seemed to fit the bill as a good climber and jumper.
Other kittens likewise exercise a lot. I cannot help being amazed by the kittens who, in such a hot sunny day while adult cats are resting in shades, continue the practice of climbing and jumping. Where does their energy come from? They move so incessantly that we, researchers, have to keep eyes on them. That is the issue. A researcher is obliged to spend hours to follow kittens one after another to take photos and videos of them. Every single movement of the kittens is worth to be analyzed from physical training viewpoints. It takes unexpectedly long time: he cannot manage his schedule anymore.
Eventually came the time to leave the island. The last ship of the day (non-HMS Shin-Nagisa II) came to pick up the tourists at the jetty in Honura port.
In the ship's ticket office is a piebald cat who gives tourists a farewell glance.
The exploration on the Sanagishima thus ended halfway. The research was all carried out in Honura village, while there was another village, Nagasaki, around two kilometers north of Honura, where I could have found other types of cats who might be different from those in Honura by nature or by nurture, when light might have been thrown on the origin of friendly cat and his or her history.
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