You can trace the word “kawaii” all the way back to the start of the 11th century, when an early form of it, “ kawayushi ,” which at the time translated more to “having pitiable qualities,” appeared in the Japanese novel “The Tale of Genji” by Lady Murasaki. Cuteness as a Japanese concept predates the modern use of the word “kawaii” — for example, in Japan’s Edo period (1603-1868), “netsuke,” or miniature charms made of ivory or boxwood, were all the rage. Citizens would style their outfits with them, much the way phone charms are used today.
As the word contracted into “kawaii” in the early 20th century, the meaning changed to literally translate to “face aglow” or “blushing” and began to take on its adorable connotation. Ultra-cute as a lifestyle exploded throughout Japan in the 1950s and ‘60s with artist Rune Naito , whose illustrations (and later, netsuke-style ceramics) of adorable girls and big-eyed animals are considered the origin of contemporary kawaii culture. (Naito was also considered an early queer icon in Japan for providing illustrations to gay magazines.
) The queen of kawaii, Miss Hello Kitty — canonically a girl in a catsuit — was created by Sanrio’s Yuko Shimizu in 1974. Fast forward to the ‘90s, when anime like “Dragon Ball Z” and “Pokemon” began to filter over to the West and a new era of Japanophilia was born. (By the time Westerners adopted the cute life, Japan had a wealth of kawaii animal charac.
