Disco Cat - Vintage Japanese Art

About the Art

In pre-war Yokohama, a kissaten called Kikuya chose a black cat holding a vinyl record as its mascot and put it on their matchboxes. We don't know who drew it. We don't know if the cafe still stands. What we know is that whoever was responsible understood exactly what they were doing.

The cat sits cross-legged on a red cushion, gripping the record with the particular satisfaction of someone who already knows the next track is going to be good. The white zigzag across its chest, the bold black against warm cream, the tiny red label at the centre of the vinyl. Each detail is deliberate in a way that most illustration never manages to be. Woodblock-rough where it needs to be. Precise everywhere that matters.

The address text places it in Yokoami, Yokohama. A neighbourhood detail that makes this vintage Japanese cafe poster feel real rather than designed.

Restored from archival source material, this Japanese matchbox art print exists nowhere else as a wall print. For people who like cats, records, coffee, or the particular atmosphere of a place that knew exactly what it was.