Photo/Illutration Django had a signature black spot on her face and a sharp look in her eyes. (Provided by Tohoku University of Art and Design)

YAMAGATA--An art university here is bidding farewell to a beloved stray cat that made its campus home and became the muse for many fledgling artists.

Django the cat, who lived on the Tohoku University of Art and Design campus in a suburban area of the capital of Yamagata Prefecture, befriended many young, would-be artists over the years.

The somewhat small, brown-haired female feline settled on the campus some seven years ago, said Kohei Wakatsuki, 64, a professor of printmaking at the TUAD Department of Fine Arts.

She was named after "Django Unchained," a Quentin Tarantino film that was showing at the time, because she had the sharp look in her eyes similar to the movie’s main character.

Friendly yet sassy, Django walked around on the campus like she owned the place.

She made frequent intrusions into the art studios and was even known to occasionally soil artwork. Despite that, many students fondly visited her at her usual spot outside the printmaking room of the university's art practice building.

"Some students likely even confided to her their own problems related to campus life and artwork production," Wakatsuki said.

Django had a chronic illness, and her condition worsened in June. She began to falter and became gradually thinner. Then on July 3, a student found her dead.

Students posted memorial messages on social media in an outpouring of gratitude.

"Thanks," one message said. "Rest in peace," said another.

"She was the first 'friend' of sorts I had after I came to work at TUAD, but she departed so soon," said Satoshi Koganezawa, 37, a lecturer of Japanese painting, who took up the position in April. He took videos and photos of Django nearly every day.

"Perhaps Django was feeling lonely because classes continued to be given online amid the coronavirus crisis."

Graduate student Akari Yamaguchi, 26, said for her final project she will make a print where Django is flying into the sky.

"I arranged motifs indicative of freedom and departure (on a rough sketch)," Yamaguchi said. "I would rather turn the course of events in my imagination into a story with a happy ending than end it with a sad parting."

Yamaguchi said that, as a cat lover, she decided to take the exam for TUAD after she met Django during an open campus event six years ago.

Django was the model for the first woodblock print she made after being admitted.

Wakatsuki and others held a wake for Django and buried her on a hillock near the campus that looks down on Yamagata's urban area.

They are considering holding an exhibition of Django's photographs.

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