BAKENEKO AND NEKOMATA 化け猫 and 猫股 or 猫又

Pronunciations: BAH-keh-NEH-koh and NEH-koh-MAH-tah

Translation: Bakeneko: Changed Cat, Monster Cat, Goblin Cat; Nekomata: Fork-Tailed Cat

Similar to: Kaibyō (怪猫), which literally means “strange cat.” All supernatural cats fall under the category of kaibyō: bakeneko, nekomata, and maneki neko (beckoning cat)

Overview

Both the bakeneko and the nekomata are cat yōkai known for their shape-shifting abilities and propensity to cause mischief and mayhem. Nekomata are typically recognized by their distinctive two tails, while bakeneko either appear as a normal cat or as an enormous one, sometimes with an inordinately long tail. They’ve probably been around since the feline’s first arrival in Japan, a date that isn’t exactly known. However, there are writings and artwork dating as far back as the early Heian era (C.E. 794–1185) that depict these frisky critters entertaining emperors and defending the delicious calligraphy-on-vellum Buddhist sutras from rats.

Having said that, Japan has always had a complicated relationship with cats. On one hand, what’s not to love about a cat? On the other hand, there’s always the chance your beloved pet will suffer “the change” and become something weird, mischievous, or just downright deadly.

Background and Popular Stories

The more you read about the bakeneko and the nekomata, the more confused you might become. Since both of these creatures have inhabited all parts of Japan for so long, their stories have become intermingled, separately elaborated upon, and simply, well, changed.

There is an old diary entry that seems to be the first instance of a nekomata documented in writing. It dates back to 1233 and was written by Fujiwara no Teika. This lover of journals meticulously kept one throughout his life. In one of his entries, he wrote that a beastly creature came from Nara. It had catlike eyes and a doglike body. It also killed and ate seven (or eight) people in a single night. The diarist didn’t exactly specify that this was a yōkai, per se, but he did give it a name: nekomata.

Regional differences aside, here’s what we know: Both the bakeneko and the nekomata start out as a regular, run-of-the-mill, non-supernatural cat, usually one that has lived to reach an impressive, venerable old age. The change from normal cat to yōkai can happen at any age from as early as seven years to as late as twenty. You never know, though, and that’s part of the mystery and the gamble of owning a cat in Japan.

There are incidences, however, especially in the case of the bakeneko, where the change happens after a cat has died tragically at the hands of a human and then comes back to get its revenge. In those cases, it’s more of a ghost cat.

The bakeneko and the nekomata are different yōkai, but there’s a lot of overlap in what they do and how to tell them apart. As it turns out, there are two varieties of nekomata: the ordinary elderly house cat and the mountain cat. The first is small and—for a lack of a better word—catlike (except for its forked tail), while the second can grow up to 10 feet (3 meters) in length and hunts bears, wild boars, and people. This latter mountain-variety nekomata may or may not have the forked tail. The bakeneko, however, looks like anything from a normal cat to an enormous angry monster cat—it can even look like your neighbor! It’s believed they can shape-shift into people when the urge strikes.

In general, the nekomata is the more dangerous of the two. But they can both be silly mischief makers too; they’ll walk upright, don tenugui cloths on their heads, and dance around people’s pillows on their hind legs while they try to sleep.

Some can talk as well. There’s an account from 1683 of someone spotting a cat at a temple, chatting up a bunch of neighborhood strays. Then a little later, a nekomata was seen on a nearby roof. Suddenly, losing its footing, it slipped and fell, invoking the name of the Buddha as it did.

Some bakeneko and nekomata can transform into human form; some choose to possess people, while others prefer to hide in the shadows, waiting to pounce and attack random passersby. Everyone, though, can probably agree that the most disturbing proclivity of the nekomata is when it engages in necromancy.

Yes, these beastly felines have been known to not only raise the dead but manipulate them as well. There’s one old story of a cat sneaking into a room where a newly deceased body lay in repose. Moments later, the corpse hopped up and started wildly dancing around. When others were called to help, the dear departed climbed out a window and onto the roof. There it scampered about before jumping off and disappearing. The body was found in a field a few days later—dead for real, this time.

Many books on folklore and culture in Japan detail these types of fascinating incidences as reason for the country’s love-fear relationship with the cat. People loved cats but were afraid of them eventually turning into murderous, dead-raising monsters. So, sometimes when a family got a cat as a pet, they would decide right away how long they wanted to keep the animal. Knowing that it would be risky to keep it for longer than seven years, they would sit the kitten down and address it directly, saying, for example, “This is your home for five years. You are a five-year cat.” The stories go that when the time limit was up, the cat would, hopefully, of its own volition, wander off into the mountains, leaving the family safer but no doubt lonelier. It’s not written if anyone considered that this practice might add to the number of mountain nekomata that relentlessly terrorized travelers and wild animals.

The following is a list of questions you can use to determine whether or not your cat has changed into a yōkai. If you can answer yes to any or all of these, you might just have a nekomata on your hands.

1. 1.  When it’s dark and you pet your cat the wrong way, against the line of the fur, does the skin glow?
2. 2. Have you caught your cat licking the oil from your oil lamps?
3. 3. Has your cat’s tail gotten longer? Does it move like a snake so much so that it gives you the willies?
4. 4. Does your cat prefer to be around smelly things, especially cuddling up next to dead people?
5. 5. Does your cat have two tails?
6. 6. When no one is around, does your cat start a fire in the hearth or enjoy starting fires in general?

In Modern Stories

The bakeneko and the nekomata have proven again and again their tenacity and long lives in pop culture. Today you can find them in all sorts of anime and manga, like Naruto and Inuyasha (Kirara), and in GeGeGe no Kitarō as one of the main characters, Nekomusume. Let’s not forget the clowder of yōkai-based cats in Pokémon either—Purrloin, Espurr, Meowstic, and Espeon.