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(c) 2017 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Letter to Isabella Stewart Gardner from Boston
(c) 2017 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
(c) 2017 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Letter to Isabella Stewart Gardner from Boston

correspondent (Yokohama, 1862 - 1913, Akakura)
Date22 November 1910
Place MadeBoston, Massachusetts, United States, North America
MediumInk on paper
ClassificationsManuscripts
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberARC.004127
eMuseum ID722945
Previous NumberU3n98
EmbARK ObjectID30105
Other NumberU3n29.1-38
TMS Source ID13687
Last Updated8/9/24
Status
Not on view
Web Commentary
This letter, penned by Okakura Kakuzo, is written from the voice and perspective of Kowun, a fluffy white kitten that Gardner gifted Okakura. Here, Kowun (speaking through Okakura), introduces itself to Gardner, and offers multiple nicknames that she can use for the cat in events such as ‘moments of tenderness’ or when one is feeling ‘silly’. The nickname “Cochin” seems to have been the one that stuck—further letters ‘from the cat’ are signed with that name. 

BibliographyNotesNina Wutrich, "Correspondence from Cochin the Cat," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 8 August 2023, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/correspondence-cochin-cat
MarksNotesStationery printed: Museum of Fine Arts, / Boston.