Great Wave off Kanagawa becomes great place for your cat to relax.

An appreciation for paintings doesn’t preclude an affinity for cute kitties, but having both fine art and pet cats in your home is a potential recipe for disaster. So, for example, if you wanted to decorate your home with the famous ukiyo-e painting The Great Wave off Kanagawa by master woodblock print creator Hokusai, you’d want to keep it outside the reach of your cat’s claws, right?

Not if your copy of The Great Wave is this very special one from Japanese lifestyle brand Felissimo’s Nekobu division.

The purpose behind that contouring isn’t to give it a 3-D effect, but because it’s actually a scratching post. Well, okay, technically it’s not post-shaped, so maybe we should call it a scratching wave?

Regardless of terminology, the beautiful recreation of The Great Wave is a cultured venue for your pet’s claw scratching activities. Made of laminated cardboard and with a non-slip coating on its underside, it’s both sturdy and stable.

Of course, cats aren’t bound by any intended purpose of the gifts you give them other than what they themselves intend to do with them. Knowing this, the designers made sure the curve of the wave is just right for relaxing and napping.

▼ Sure, it’s covering up Mt. Fuji, but this view has its own appeal too.

What’s especially impressive is that the designers did such a good job recreating the painting that it actually works extremely well as an interior decoration all on its own.

The Great Wave off Kanagawa scratching post can be ordered online here through Felissimo Nekobu, priced at 9,875 yen (US$95), and as is often the case with the company’s products, a portion of that will be donated to animal welfare organizations.

Meanwhile, if you’d like some dual-use ukiyo-e art for yourself, there’s always that line of edible Japanese wagyu beef art.

Sources: Felissimo, PR Times
Top image: Felissimo
Insert images: Felissimo (1, 2)
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