Nekomata: Two-tailed demon cat. Yokai or nekomata

The Nekomata is a type of cat mentioned in folklore. There are two very different types: those that live in the mountains, and those that grow indoors, aging and transforming. It is often confused with Bakeneko, another type of demonic cat.

1. Mountain Nekomata

In China, they are mentioned in stories even older than those in Japan from the Sui dynasty, which tell of mysterious cats, but in Japan, in Fujiwara no Teika’s Meigetsuki, in the early years of the Kamakura period, at the beginning of Tenpuku, there is a claim that a nekomata ate and killed several people in a single night.

This is the first appearance of the nekomata in literature, and the Nekomata was spoken of as a beast in the mountains. However, in the “Meigetsuki,” regarding its appearance, it was written, “they have eyes like a cat, and they have a body as large as a dog,” many people wonder if it is really a cat monster, and since there are statements that people suffer from a disease called “nekomata disease,” there is an interpretation that it is actually a beast that has contracted rabies.

Furthermore, in the essay Tsurezuregusa from the late Kamakura period (around 1331), it was written, “In the recesses of the mountains, there are those who call themselves nekomata, and people say that they eat humans.” Even in the kaidan collections, the “Tonoigusa” and the “Sorori Monogatari,” nekomata hide in the recesses of the mountains, and there are stories in which they appear transformed into humans in the depths of the mountains, and in popular religion there are many stories of nekomata in mountainous regions.

Nekomata in the mountains tend to be larger in later literature, and in the “Shin Chomonjū,”nekomata captured in the mountains of Kii Province are as large as a wild boar, and in the “Wakun no Shiori” of 1775 (Anei 4), it is said that their roaring voices echo throughout the mountains, and they are described as being as large as lions or leopards. In “Güiso” from 1809 (Bunka 6), a nekomata with a dog in its mouth had a wingspan of about 2.8 meters.

In the province of Etchū, in Aizu, on Nekomatayama, it is said that this is where the Nekomatayama would eat and kill humans, nekomata that transform into humans and fools, such as Mount Nekomadake, sometimes their legends bear the name of the mountain. As for Nekomatayama, it can be seen that if one does not follow folklore in the slightest, there are actually large cats living on the mountain that attack humans.

2. Domesticated cat Nekomata

At the same time, from the Kamakura period, in the story called Kankyō Hōin, an old cat raised in a mountain village on a cliff had a secret treasure, a protective sword, in its mouth, and fled, and the people chased after it, but it masked its appearance at that time, and left behind the pet cat to become a monster. This is also a nekomata, and it speaks of how, apart from the nekomata that hide in the mountains.

In the Edo period and later, the idea that cats raised in the home would become nekomata as they aged became widespread, and the aforementioned nekomata of the mountains came to be interpreted as cats that had fled and come to live in the mountains. Because of this, in every area of Japan, the popular belief arose that cats should not be raised for many months and years.

In the ceremonial court’s “Ansai Zuihitsu,” one can see the statement “a cat of several years of age will grow two tails and become the yōkai called nekomata.” Furthermore, the scholar Arai Hakuseki, from the middle of the Edo period, stated that “old cats become nekomatas and confuse people,” and indicated that it was common sense at the time to think that cats become nekomata, and even the kawarabanes of the Edo period reported on this strange phenomenon.

In the book Yamato Kaiiki, written by an unknown author in 1708, a story tells of the haunted house of a wealthy samurai. The inhabitants of this house witness various poltergeist activities, and the samurai invite countless shamans, priests, and evokers in an attempt to bring the events to an end. But none of them are able to find the source of the terror. One day, one of the most loyal servants observes his master’s old cat carrying a shikigami with the samurai’s name printed on its mouth.

Immediately, the servant shoots a sacred arrow, striking the cat in the head. When the cat lies dead on the floor, all the inhabitants can see that the cat has two tails and has therefore become a nekomata. With the death of the demon cat, the poltergeist’s activities come to an end. Similar stories about encounters with nekomata appear in books such as Taihei Hyakumonogatari (“Collection of 100 Fairy Tales”), written by Yusuke in 1723, and in the book Rōō Chabanashi, written by Misaka Daiyata in 1742.

It is generally said that the “mata” in “nekomata” comes from how they have two tails, but from a folklorist’s point of view, this is questionable, and since they transform as they age, the theory that “mata” means “repetition” has been proposed. Alternatively, since they were once thought to be mountain beasts, there is a theory that it comes from “mata,” which means monkeys, with the meaning that they are like monkeys that can come and go freely among the trees in the mountains at will.

There is also a theory that it comes from the way aging cats shed the skin on their backs and it hangs down, making it look like they have two tails. Cats are often associated with death in Japan, and this particular spirit is often blamed. Much darker and more malevolent than most bakeneko, the nekomata is said to have necromantic powers, and by resurrecting the dead, it will control them with ritual dances gesturing with its paw and tail.

These yōkai are associated with strange fires and other unexplained events. The older and more mistreated a cat was before its transformation, the more powerful the nekomata is said to be. To take revenge on those who have wronged it, the spirit can haunt humans with visits from its dead relatives. Like bakeneko, some stories tell of how these demons have taken human form, but they have usually appeared as older women, behaving badly in public and bringing sadness and malevolence wherever they traveled.

Sometimes the tails of kittens were cut off as a precaution, as it was believed that if their tails could not fork, they could not become nekomata. Based on this insight and strange characteristics, nekomata have been considered evil since time immemorial. Due to popular fears and beliefs such as the resurrection of the dead at a funeral, or that seven generations would be cursed as a result of killing a cat, it is believed that the legend of the nekomata was born.

Also, in popular beliefs, cats and the dead are related. As carnivores, cats have a keen sense of detecting the smell of decay, so it was believed that they had the trait of approaching corpses; with this popular belief, sometimes the kasha, a yōkai that steals the corpses of the dead, is seen as the nekomata.

There is also a cat yōkai called bakeneko in Japan, but since nekomata are certainly yōkai transformed from cats, nekomata are sometimes confused with bakeneko.

3. History of the nekomata

During the Edo period, many illustrated reference books, yōkai emaki, were produced, and nekomata are frequently the subject of these depictions of yōkai. In the Hyakkai Zukan published in 1737, there was a depiction of a nekomata taking the appearance of a female human playing a shamisen, but since shamisen in the Edo period were often made using cat skins.

The nekomata played the shamisen and sang a sadsong about its own kind, and this has been interpreted as a kind of irony. As for the fact that they wear geisha clothing, there is a view that this is related to the fact that geisha were once called “cats (neko).”

A cat with its head sticking out of a shōji, a cat with a handkerchief on its head and its front paw on the porch, and a cat in the center also wearing a handkerchief and standing on its hind legs were commonly depicted, and thus as a cat that has not had enough experience, and a cat that has grown old and become able to stand on two legs, the process by which a cat ages and transforms into a nekomata is depicted.

4. Other names for the nekomata

In ancient times, stories from West Asia tell many mythological legends about this folkloric animal called nekomata. There are many variations in its name and behavior.

Yokai

Yokai or nekomata are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. The word yokai is made up of the kanji for “spell; charm; calamity” and “apparition; mystery; suspicion.” Yokai range from malevolent to mischievous and occasionally bring good luck to those who encounter them.

The reason cats are seen as yokai or nekomata in Japanese mythology may be, for example, because of the mysterious air that surrounds them: their eyes change shape depending on the time of day, how they sometimes suck blood, how they can walk without making a sound, their wild nature that remains despite the delicacy they can sometimes show, the way they are difficult to control, the sharpness of their claws and teeth, their sleeping habits, and their speed and agility.

There are many other animals that are not cats in ancient tales that have similar attributes, but cats in particular have a large number of tales and superstitions surrounding them, due to their unique position between nature and civilization. As cities and towns were established and humans began to live further away from nature, cats came with them.

Because cats live close to humans but retain their wild essence and air of mystery, stories grew up around them, and little by little the image of the different yokai or nekomata cats took shape.

The cat yokai or nekomata can be born as a result of a number of things, but the most common reasons are living a long life (usually over 13 years) and growing to a certain size by licking large amounts of lamp oil. Cats licking lamp oil may sound strange to us, but in that period lamp oil was made from cheap fish oil, so it is not surprising that cats would try to eat it when they were hungry.

It is believed that a telltale sign that a cat may be close to becoming a yokai or nekomata is an exceptionally long tail. This superstition led to the custom of waving a cat’s tail at an early age to prevent it from growing supernaturally and transforming into a yokai or nekomata.

The Bakeneko

Bakeneko or nekomata begin their supernatural lives looking almost identical to normal domestic cats. They soon begin to walk on two legs. As they age and their powers increase, they can become very large, sometimes as large as an adult human.

Bakeneko or nekomata have great shape-shifting abilities and often disguise themselves as cats or smaller humans, sometimes even their own masters. While in disguise, they like to dress up as humans with a towel around their heads and dance merrily. Many learn to speak human languages. They can eat things that are much larger than themselves, and even poisonous things, without any difficulty.

It is even possible for a Bakeneko or nekomata to eat its own master and then take its form, living in its place. If they do not kill their owners, they often bring great curses and misfortune upon them. They can summon ghostly fireballs and are known to accidentally start fires in houses, their tails acting as torches on any flammable material in the house. They also have the disturbing ability to reanimate fresh corpses and use them as puppets for their own purposes.

Nekomata

The nekomata can be found in cities and towns, transformed from ordinary cats. They are born in the same way as the bakeneko, although only the oldest and largest cats with the longest tails (and therefore the most power and intelligence) become this powerful variety. When these cats transform from ordinary animals into yokai or nekomata, their history is split down the middle into two identical tails.

Although not all bakeneko are malicious or violent towards their masters, all nekomata are. They look down on humans with contempt, and are often responsible for summoning fireballs that cause large conflagrations, killing many people. They often control corpses with their necromantic powers, like puppeteers, and use their powerful influence to blackmail or enslave humans into doing their bidding.

The most dangerous and powerful nekomata live deep in the mountains in the form of wild cats such as leopards and lions. These monstrous wild cats grow to incredible sizes, many meters long, and feed on other large animals such as wild boars, dogs, bears, and, of course, humans.

The best example of a Bakeneko/Nekomata is currently represented by Kuro in the Japanese anime called “Ao no Exorcist.” This cat fits perfectly with all the characteristics of the yokai cat. It is the one that most resembles the Nekomata because it is very old and its tail has split into two identical tails.

It is also capable of transforming into a large Nekomata that allows it to destroy buildings and excavators. The anime character named Kuro can be aggressive, but when handled correctly, it acts like a normal domestic cat. The reason it is not a Nekomata is because it does not despise humans.