The first Namennayo (なめ猫) featured Matakichi dressed as a motorcycle gang member, complete with a slogan that roughly translates to, “All Japan Fast Feline Federation — You Won’t Lick Us!”

Created in the early 1980s by Japanese photographer, Satoru Tsuda, Namennayo photos of living cats dressed in miniature clothing and arranged in adorable cat-sized dioramas proved hugely popular. That picture alone sold 8 million copies.

Tsuda was working as a photographer, often shooting pedigree kittens for posters and calendars. He kept various pets – rabbits, dogs, ducks, pigeons, and hamsters – on the rooftop of his photography studio. Cats came to attack the birds. Things changed when he rescued four abandoned kittens. The one named Matakichi (またきち) began playing with doll clothes left by his girlfriend.

Namennayo wear the gear of 1980s Japanese high school gangsters:

Banchō (番長), male delinquents, are known for their bandanas, arm bands, and for thumbing their nose at authority via unbuttoned gakuran (学ラン), or military style school blazers.

Sukeban (スケ番), female delinquents, modified their sailor-style school uniforms by making their skirts longer while cropping their tops.

Early Namennayo pictures showed the kittens behaving as juvenile delinquents – smoking in school toilets, riding out in motorcycle gangs, and playing in high-stakes battle of the bands tournaments.

Each cat can only be posed for 10 minutes. They are photographed only once or twice a week. While that cats may look like they are standing up, they are actually sitting on their hind quarters.

The kitten’s costumes are made out of a one piece suit that fastens in the back.

Via: tarchivist,