Feudal warriors’ home fails to intimidate fearless feline.

Cat lovers’ fascination with felines often stems from the animals’ regal atmosphere. Compared to their over-energized, slobbering dog rivals, cats are sophisticated and eminently elegant.

But cultured as they may seem, cats don’t actually have all that much appreciation or respect for human culture it seems. Previously, we’ve seen them napping inside Buddhist alters or Zen gardens in Japan, and now comes another telling snapshot from Japanese Twitter user @rivesm, who was recently visiting the well-preserved samurai residences in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, which now operate as a museum that’s open to the public.

As you can see in the facility’s promotional video above, the buke yashiki, as samurai homes are called in Japanese, are an exquisite look back to the lifestyle of Japan’s warrior class. But while there @rivesm also saw this:

…a set of impudent pawprints leading a path across one of the low verandas on the edge of a room, right next to a sign clearly marked “Please refrain from entering this room.”

“Hey, it says you can’t go in there!” tweeted @rivesm along with the photo, though he, and many other online, were quick to let the transgression slide.

“But cats can’t read!”
“Forgiven on grounds of cuteness!”
“I love the way it looks like the cat hesitated for a bit in front of the sign.”
“And the way the path kind of meanders is cute.”
“I love how they’ve apparently decided not to wipe the pawprints away.”

Of course, given how much damage cats are capable of doing to traditional Japanese architecture when they really feel like it, it looks like this samurai’s home got off easy. As for the paw prints, you have to assume they’re going to clean them up sometime, unless they’re hoping that this is another case of a kitty-added touch adding to the historical appeal.

Related: Aizuwakamatsu Bukeyashiki
Source: Twitter/@rivesm via Jin

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s pretty impressed with Aizuwakamatsu for grabbing the URL “bukeyashiki.com.”