Nekomata - WikiHQ

thumb|"" from the [[Hyakkai Zukan by Sawaki Suushi]]

Nekomata (original form: , later forms: , , ) are a kind of cat yōkai described in Japanese folklore, classical kaidan, essays, etc. There are two very different types: those that live in the mountains and domestic cats that have grown old and transformed into yōkai.

Nekomata are often confused with bakeneko. Nekomata have multiple tails, while bakeneko have one. Additionally, while bakeneko are often seen as mischievous and playful, nekomata are considered far more malicious in their behaviour.

Mountain nekomata

thumb|"" from the "Tonoigusa" by Ogita Ansei (1660). A scene of a hunter shooting a nekomata that has shapeshifted into the hunter's mother.

Nekomata appear in stories even earlier than in Japan. In the Sui dynasty, the words and described mysterious cats. In Japanese literature, the nekomata first appeared in the Meigetsuki by Fujiwara no Teika in the early Kamakura period: in the beginning of Tenpuku (1233), August 2, in Nanto (now Nara Prefecture), a nekomata () was said to have killed and eaten several people in one night. The nekomata was described as a mountain beast: according to the Meigetsuki, "They have eyes like a cat, and have a large body like a dog." An essay in Yoshida Kenkō 's 1331 Tsurezuregusa asserts, "."

Many people question whether the nekomata was originally a cat monster. Since people are said to suffer an illness called , some interpret the nekomata to be a beast that has caught rabies.

Even in the kaidan collections, the and the , nekomata conceal themselves in mountain recesses. There are stories that deep in the mountains they shapeshift into humans. In folk religion there are many stories of mountainous nekomata.

Domestic cat nekomata

At the same time, in the setsuwa collection Kokon Chomonjū, in the story "", an old cat raised in a villa on a mountain precipice held a secret treasure, a protective sword, in its mouth and ran away. People chased the cat, but it disguised itself. In the aforementioned Tsurezuregusa, aside from nekomata that conceal themselves in the mountains, there are descriptions of pet cats that grow old, transform, and eat and abduct people. There is also a theory that the term derives from how cats that grow old shed the skin off their backs and hang downwards, making it appear that they have two tails.

In Japan, cats are often associated with death, and this particular spirit is usually blamed. Far darker and more malevolent than most bakeneko, the nekomata is said to have powers of necromancy and, upon raising the dead, will control them with ritualistic dances, gesturing with paw and tail. These yōkai are associated with strange fires and other inexplicable occurrences. The older and more abused a cat is before its transformation, the more power the nekomata is said to have. To gain revenge against those who wronged it, the spirit may haunt humans with visitations from their deceased relatives. Some tales state that these demons, like bakeneko, assume human appearances, usually appearing as older women, misbehaving in public, and bringing gloom and malevolence wherever they travel. Due to these beliefs, sometimes kittens' tails were cut off based on the assumption that if the tails could not fork, the cats could not become nekomata.

From this discernment and strange characteristics, nekomata have been considered devilish from time immemorial. Due to fears and folk beliefs such as the dead resurrecting at a funeral or that seven generations would be cursed due to killing a cat, it is thought that the legend of the nekomata was born. Also, in folk beliefs cats and the dead are related. As carnivores, cats have a keen sense of detecting the smell of rot, so it was believed that they had a habit of approaching corpses; with this folk belief sometimes the kasha, a yōkai that steals corpses are seen to be the same as the nekomata.

Yōkai depictions

thumb|Nekomata () from [[Bakemono no e (, c. 1700), Harry F. Bruning Collection of Japanese Books and Manuscripts, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.]]

thumb| from the [[Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Sekien Toriyama]]

In the Edo period many books illustrating and describing yōkai were published (yōkai emaki), with nekomata frequently depicted. The Hyakkai Zukan, published in 1737 (Genbun 2), includes an illustration of a nekomata assuming the appearance of a woman playing a shamisen, the first image on this page. Since Edo-period shamisen frequently used cat skins, that particular nekomata sang a sad song about its species as it plucked the strings. As for the nekomatas wearing geisha clothing, sometimes nekomata and geisha are considered related since geisha were once called "cats" ().

Senri

In Chinese lore, there is a cat monster called the (, Japanese: ; cf. Chinese , ). In this telling, leopard cats that grow old gain a xian (divine spiritual power), shapeshift into a beautiful man or woman, and suck the spirit out of humans. Some theorize that the Japanese nekomata legends derive from Chinese xiānlí tales.

Notes

References

Patrick Drazen: A Gathering of Spirits: Japan's Ghost Story Tradition: from Folklore and Kabuki to Anime and Manga. iUniverse, New York 2011, , page 114.
Elli Kohen: World history and myths of cats. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press 2003, , page 48–51.
Carl Van Vechten: The Tiger In The House. Kessinger Publishing, Whitefish 2004 (Reprint), , page 96.

External links

Nekomata – The Split-Tailed Cat at hyakumonogatari.com (English)