Use my code XIRAN10 and link: bit.ly/3dXAHej to get 10% off your own authentic Japanese subscription box from Bokksu! Don't miss out on this amazing snack-journey through Japan! How did y'all like Accented Cinema as Cat Grandpa Lu You? 😂

“Cats are forever, humans are temporary.” -Lu You at some point

He wrote a poem about his cat doing zoomies lol. I've never heard a more relatable poem

The Egyptians just fully embraced our destined role as cat servants. They understood the assignment.

it's funny how he says "this cat must've been my servant boy in a previous life," and then becoming a servant boy to his cats lmao

You're so right about humans never changing. Every Cat Dad I know is like this. Complains about how lazy they are while adoring them to bits.

"They no long have any incentive to work hard!" And the cat stares at the camera for a second Perfection.

Damn that 'Rat Kept Ruining My Books So I Got A Cat and Within Days the Rats Were Vanquished' has a huge isekai light novel title energy lol

People in medieval England wrote about their cats a lot too. I love how evidently that's one of the most fundamental human features

I come here for the intelligent hot-takes, critical break-downs, and the amazing outfits. Also this man is amazing, and people's adoration for cats is eternal

From vengeance and honor to liveblogging cats. Sounds like Zuko's canon-to-fanon arc.

I feel a connection to this guy. We are separated by time and space and a million other things but we both agree that cats are awesome

If you write a book about the two cat dads on different sides of a war bonding over cats and then eloping with their cat children, I will sell my soul to get it

They never sleep on the themed "costumes" that shirt is adorable 😺

Xiran, looking at their cat intensely : They no longer have any incentive to work hard Their cat : Shouldn’t you be the one who worship me? Smh

I feel so connected to this cat dad. I too like to sit and do nothing while cuddling my cat. I may be wrong but I think I read about a Japanese (prince? Some guy? Can’t remember) man who also wrote either poems or stories full of frustrated adoration about his cats. I remember at one point he talks about his cat being the best cat to have ever lived and if that’s not the most accurate cat owner sentence, I don’t know what is.

Reminds me of that Japanese poem written by a young emperor about his cat. I don’t remember it perfectly but it boiled down to “look at how pretty and silly my cat is, clearly it’s the best cat”. Cat ownership is the same everywhere and every time.

Aw sh$t, I forgot this was a thing.

I remember reading a Tumblr post (that, therefore might not be real) talking about one Japanese emperor's writings about his cat. He says, among other things, "I am convinced it is superior to all other cats", which checks out.

Things I'm not surprised by: Ancient people saying "let me show you my cats"

"Cats have been having the zoomies and getting weird on catnip for over 800 years." This is comforting and also amazing.

Holy! Never knew the famous "A Rainstorm on the Fourth Day of Eleventh Month" I learnt in school is just an accompanying piece to a cat live blog! 铁马冰河入梦来

I've never felt such a strong connection with a person who lived that long ago.

there is something so soft and tender about reading these poems written centuries ago. kind of like the bear from the cave painting, it makes me feel happy to be human sometimes. thank you for sharing Xiran! would love more of these from different time periods!

"It's not drinking alone if the cat is with you" - Lu You

there's something so heartwarming about how a man living in china 800 years ago had the exact same relationship with his cat as I do now on the opposite end of the continent

In this video, we have an two people whose careers in politics were not meant to be so turned to the arts (though different types)

What I love is that the titles of the poems sound like actual KZfaq titles. Poems really were just KZfaq Vlogs before the Internet was born

I love that we can guess the color of an 800 year old cat based solely on their names. Nice that some things never change.

At my high school we studied ancient greek literature, and sure, we read the great poems likethe Iliad, Oddisey, Theogony, etc. But we also read the little symposium poems about food, drinks, cute boys, or Theocrite's urban and pastoral scenes, like the one about two sicilian immigrant women going out together to a religious festival. I just love ancient poetry about the everyday things that just doesn't seem to change!

It took me almost a full minute to realize the hair peices on your head are made to look like cat ears, and almost another minute to realize you are wearing a cat shirt. Great thematic clothing!

"They no longer have any incentive to work hard" Ah I see you've met my cats

I loved this! So cute! Also reminded me how there's an ancient manuscript with cat pawprints on it in ink because cats absolutely will knock over your ink and step on your stuff

I know this is almost a year old, but one of my favorite jokes by ancient people that shows we haven't changed at all, is a cave in Scandinavia where historians found writing like 20 feet up on a cave wall. When they translated it, it came out as something like "This is really high."

Adoring the clips of Temujin and Kokochin in the background. This will be one of my favorite videos XD Gotta love a poet who writes at length about his cat XD

7:23 I love how your cat looks at you and then at the camera, like "Were you talking about me? Were they talking about me?"

This reminds me of ancient Roman epitaphs for dogs. You can look them up, but they are very sad

i wish you could see how big i'm smiling watching this video. if you want an irish version of this exact same medieval cat monk phenomenon, look up 'pangur bán'. humankind has literally never, ever changed anywhere and NEITHER HAVE CATS

I love it because he basically documented how he became a modern day "Crazy Cat Lady". And i am here for it!!

"Your plan was so clever that my frustrations are difficult to explain." (every one that has a pet, ever)

My personal ancient-people-are-the-same-as-us moment was reading Sei Shonagon's The Pillow Book in premodern Japanese literature class. Intensely relatable.

These poems are so... Simple yet relatable. You feel that these people had lived so much slower than we do nowadays. There's a definite beauty in it.

As a cat owner, "Everyday I see you sleeping without worry -so for what reason do you keep rushing here and there?" is an absolute mood

I can feel it in my heart that this dude is either my ancestor, or I'm his reincarnation, for I have too written poems about my cats, such titled as "Little S.O.B.", which sort of goes like: Little S.O.B., those were my clean sheets; What had you eaten I can tell, Since I see it really well, That you have puked the fur of mice, Making me shout "What the hell!". And now we wait until someone brings up this comment in a video 800 years from now, so the cycle starts again :D

I love this collab, my two educators in Chinese history and culture

Wow, What a legend. He will be a hero for the cats lol.

One of my favorite things about studying literature is finding gems like these that prove that humans have always been weird.

I'm glad the world got to listen to Accented Cinema read poetry. *May the Gods bless you both*

This reminds me of the poem "Pangur Bán", which was written in the notebook by an Early Medieval Irish monk, who compares his little white kitten chasing mice to himself, diligently writing and illuminating his Bible. Both his kitten and himself, he writes, are fixated on a common art. They are both masters of their crafts, whether it's writing intricately decorated letters, or stalking rodents in the depth of night. Old Irish: Messe ocus Pangur Bán, cechtar nathar fria saindán; bíth a menma-sam fri seilgg, mu menma céin im saincheirdd Caraim-se fos, ferr cach clú, oc mu lebrán léir ingnu; ní foirmtech frimm Pangur bán, caraid cesin a maccdán. Ó ru·biam - scél cen scís - innar tegdais ar n-óendís, táithiunn - díchríchide clius - ní fris tarddam ar n-áthius. Gnáth-húaraib ar gressaib gal glenaid luch inna lín-sam; os mé, du·fuit im lín chéin dliged n-doraid cu n-dronchéill. Fúachid-sem fri frega fál a rosc anglése comlán; fúachimm chéin fri fégi fis mu rosc réil, cesu imdis, Fáelid-sem cu n-déne dul hi·n-glen luch inna gérchrub; hi·tucu cheist n-doraid n-dil, os mé chene am fáelid. Cía beimmi amin nach ré, ní·derban cách ar chéle. Maith la cechtar nár a dán, subaigthius a óenurán. Hé fesin as choimsid dáu in muid du·n-gní cach óenláu; du thabairt doraid du glé for mu mud céin am messe. Modern English: I and Pangur Bán, each of us two at his special art: his mind at hunting (mice), my own mind is in my special craft. I love to rest-better than any fame-at my booklet with diligent science: not envious of me is Pangur Bán: he himself loves his childish art. When we are-tale without tedium-in our house, we two alone, we have-unlimited (is) feat-sport-something to which to apply our acuteness. It is customary at times by feat of valour, that a mouse sticks in his net, and for me there falls into my net a difficult dictum with hard meaning. His eye, this glancing full one, he points against the wall-fence: I myself against the keenness of science point my clear eye, though it is very feeble. He is joyous with speedy going where a mouse sticks in his sharp-claw: I too am joyous, where I understand a difficult dear question. Though we are thus always, neither hinders the other: each of us two likes his art, amuses himself alone. He himself is the master of the work which he does every day: while I am at my own work, (which is) to bring difficulty to clearness.

"Full fledge cat slave, he is" 😂 I kept my old couch ottoman when I sold my couch just because my cat loves it so much now she just has a giant bed with 3 blankets and 16 inch Squishmallow as beds on top of her big bed

This reminds me of "The cat who went to heaven" by Elizabeth Coatsworth. A poor painter adopts a tricolor cat. He then gets a commissioned to paint for the buddhist temple- the scene where animals show up to mourn the death of Buddha- where a cat was one of the only animals that didn't show up [I'm not Buddhist so I don't know if this is based on a story in the religion's canon or made up for the book]. Thus "no cat goes to heaven", but the the cat prays with his master and clearly wants to be part of the painting. Dilemma of the painter: make the cat happy by adding it and lose the money from the temple or make the cat depressed but get the money? After this would be spoiler territory.

I love how their cats switch when Xiran starts talking about the other poet

Love how you talking about cat poems, while your cats are crawling all around you. Not will you only find that humans from ancient times are not all that different, or humans of different locations, but you will find many animals of the world are not that much different from us.

What I expected: a few poems detailing Chinese legends of cats What I’ve got: a old wise scholar’s slow decent to become a cat lady.

The judging looks she gives her cats throughout this video makes 100 times better

This was informative, entertaining, AND adorable all at the same time! It's heartwarming knowing that someone from long ago loved his cats like I loved my cats. It makes me think of all the classic artwork (from every culture) where they include their dogs and cats as a detail, or even as the subject of the artwork itself. I get the same vibes and warm feelings of sonder. It's cool that these poems were even translated into English. Even though I can't understand the original language and I probably miss some smaller nuances, I get the feeling. It's adorable and hilarious.

xiran: they no longer have any incentive to work hard their cats: 👁 w 👁?

@1:54 kot: "rats bothering you mama? I'll get them." Seriously that thing is adorable

The Crossover we all needed! Please do more with Accented Cinema!! Imagine a podcast together!

As a person who's obsessed with cats, the story is so interesting and her outfit is so cute every vid, I would love to learn more Chinese stories

I love it when you run into bits of history that humanize people of the past.

Lu You really went through the same process as the ancient Egyptians did when cats domesticated themselves originally XD “Well they don’t do any mousecatching anymore… but they’re cute and they like to cuddle so it’s ok.”

Cat: does the zoomies Chinese poet: inspiring!

I like how your actual cat keeps making faces like it knows exactly what you're on about

The way Xiran pointedly looks at their cats whenever the cats block the camera or do any other shenanigans is so precious this is exactly the content I'm here for

I like how quickly things go from having no money for fish, to having a little money for fish, to casual mentions of catnip, to suddenly having the money for enough fish that his cats aren't hungry enough to hunt mice so much anymore. This is a guy after my own heart. When I was poor and living off of lies and hope I learned how to make cat food with rice and canned tuna. Tastes ok. Mostly I just ate ice and ten cent ramen I got on sale though. Today I live in a bueatiful home, the neighbor is senile and once in a while a mouse used to sneak in from their place. The cats would tell me where it was and I caught it in a rag or a trash bag before tossing it back over the fence. The cats have unfortunately trained me to hunt the mice that bother them by trying to eat their cat food. But they are adorable, so it is the way of things.

The best cat poem from medieval Europe is an Irish one called “Pangur Bán”, written by a young monk in his notebook, comparing his studying to his cat’s mouse hunting. It begins: I and Pangur Bán my cat, ‘Tis a like task we are at: Hunting mice is his delight, Hunting words I sit all night. It seems like scholars and cats have teamed up to keep books safe for thousands of years.

I've had 4 cats in my life so far, one given by a neighbor, one stray adopted me & brought his mate, & a different stray adopting me years after the first stray became a widower. I guess there were no strays back then.

Really a great pleasure to touch minds with a fellow cat lover who lived almost a millennium ago. Also, I love Accented Cinema. He did a great job with the poems. ALSO - cute outfit!

I'm glad Lu You got a rug for his cats

I immediately recognized AccentedCinema. The man's a treasure.

I like the ending of the video. Kokochin either a) does "Talk to the paw", or b) goes "Imma stop you there"

this video made me smile so hard 800 year old cat poems is my new favorite genre

Try deep-diving into Roman history and realizing how similar the government of Ancient Rome was to the US. Also, love the look of this video and the cat cameos!

Kokochin just goes 'talk to the paw' in the end there. ;D

2 years after posting it - it made me smile, gave me the push to grab the lap top here in the coolness, closer to my cat and I, and get to work... Thanks.

Aw cat dads, I'd ship it lol. Would love to see your chinese cultural breakdown of heavens official blessing, it's such a beautiful show.

Hong Konger here, Love the videos Xiran! It is widely believed and supported that poems written in the Tang(Mandarin)/Tong(Cantonese) and Song Dynasty were written with the Cantonese language perspective, the poems tend to rhyme more if read with Cantonese, and certain characters in the original versions are ‘Ancient Han/Chinese’ (古漢語) that is historically and still commonly used in Cantonese, some current versions of the same poems might replace using more modern characters instead that is more commonly associated with Mandarin.

Not gonna lie, these poems made me smile so much. The deep love he clearly had for his cats is beautiful to witness :) I can relate so hard, and I love this wholesome type of content from you too!

I love that there is poetry about not going outside.

These poems reminded me of the irish poem Pangur Bán, I’d recommend reading Seamus Heaney’s translation of it.

I'm obsessed with your cats.

I love both the kitties in this video 🥺 but especially the teeeny spot on the tricolor cat’s lil nose. It is extremely cute.

I love this sort of thing. I remember in college reading some Japanese Zen priest from a few centuries ago writing about his cat and the Zen lessons he/she bestowed. One simple thought that I remember, is cat is always cat, never pretending to be something else. Or the extreme mind focus when stalking a mouse. Unfortunately I cannot find these poems now. I would love to hear the poems spoken in Chinese as well. I can read Chinese at a decent level but looking up the 20-30% of the characters I am unsure of takes time.

Feelings about not wanting to go out on a cold or rainy day trancends time.

Aww Temujin is growing up so fast.Too fast! I wish this cutie would remain a kitten forever.

I love how when you talk about the cat-poet on the other side of the war, your white kitty jumps down, and your grey kitty jumps up, serving as a visual aide for how we've metaphorically switched sides on the chessboard of war to talk about how the other side is (cat-obsessed) human, too.

I love how people just shifted from cat poems to cat videos over a millennia

Aw, the ears! Have you read the writing of Japanese emperor Uda on his cat? Good stuff

I heard that there was an ancient cave writing 12 feet in the air, and when we were able to translate the writing into English, it translated to "This is very high." My sister and I joked about how that was the world's first shitpost

Love how the kitty at the end raised it paw too whens shes like why are you like this😭😭😭

The collab we’ve all been waiting for

The title made me laugh out loud

after four years at college doing only traditional chinese characters trying to read simplified feels like trying to read english but every once in a wle a single lette is missing

I was so focused on the cute hair, I didn't notice the shirt until the end. I love it!

I cannot take my eyes from that amazing, extremely cute cat-ear hairstyle

Yes!!! The kitty 😍😍😍 love when we get to see the fur babies ❤

Temujin's getting so big! She's adorable!!!

The poem reading was cinematic…in an accented way. What a pleasant surprise!

And then your Chinese teacher would try to convince you that the cats were an allergory to the corrupt Political system the poet had face