Internet Famous
Fukumaru
2003 – 2011 (photo series)
The odd-eyed cat whose tender photographs beside an elderly Japanese farmer became a beloved book celebrating an unlikely friendship.
- Owner
- Miyoko Ihara (photographer) & her grandmother Misao
- Years
- 2003 – 2011 (photo series)
- Known for
- Internet Famous
Fukumaru was a plump, odd-eyed cat — one eye blue, one gold — who found lasting fame not through antics or memes but through a series of gentle, deeply human photographs. He was adopted by Misao, the elderly grandmother of the Japanese photographer Miyoko Ihara, and over the years Ihara documented the pair’s daily life together on her grandmother’s small farm.
The photographs, gathered into the book “Misao the Big Mama and Fukumaru,” show the two of them almost inseparable: working side by side in the vegetable fields, resting together, sharing quiet moments around the house. Misao had found the tiny cat in a shed and named him Fukumaru, combining the character for good fortune with a wish that everything would be “rounded” and peaceful. The name suited him, and the two grew utterly devoted to one another.
What gave the images their enormous appeal was their honesty and warmth. In an age of staged, glossy pet fame, here was an ordinary rural grandmother and her cat, aging together in unforced companionship, the affection between them plain in every frame. The series struck a chord far beyond Japan, resonating with anyone who has known the comfort a pet can bring to a life, and the special bond that can form between an older person and an animal.
Fukumaru became, in effect, quietly internet- and book-famous as a symbol of loyal, undemanding love — proof that a cat need do nothing extraordinary to move people, only be present, faithful and dear to someone who cherishes him.