| Bakeneko | |
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Real Name |
Bakeneko |
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First Appearance |
Japanese Myth |
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Created by |
Japanese Myth |
Origin[]
The bakeneko is a type of Japanese yōkai, or supernatural entity; more specifically, it is a kaibyō, or supernatural cat. Bakeneko are often confused with Nekomata. The distinction between them is often ambiguous, but the largest difference is that the bakenenko has one tail, while the nekomata has two.
In Japanese folklore, any cat that lives over thirteen years old, reaches one kan (3.75 kilograms) in weight or is allowed to keep a long tail can become a bake-neko or cat monster. A bake-neko is a cat that gains paranormal powers after certain circumstances. They also have the ability to eat (bigger or smaller) anything in its way, no matter what it is. Poison is its main food, for example, a certain type of snake. It is rare to see people with a 'bake-neko' though some people have been known to see it. The breeding of the Japanese Bobtail may have some connection with this superstition. After a bake-neko tail grows long enough it forks into two tails, then the bake-neko is no longer called a bake-neko, but a neko-mata.
A bakeneko will haunt any household it is kept in, creating ghostly fireballs, menacing sleepers, walking on its hind legs, changing its shape into that of a human, and even devouring its own mistress in order to shapeshift and take her place. When it is finally killed, its body may be as much as five feet in length. It also poses a danger if allowed into a room with a fresh corpse; a cat is believed to be capable of reanimating a body by jumping over it.
One famous bakeneko story is about a man named Takasu Genbei, whose mother's personality changed completely after his pet cat went missing for many years. His mother avoided the company of friends and family and would take her meals alone in her room. When the family peeked in on her, they saw a cat-like monster in the mother's clothes, chewing on animal carcasses. Takasu, still skeptical, slew what looked like his mother, and after one day his mother's body turned back into his pet cat that had been missing. Takasu then tore up the floorboards of his mother's room to find her skeleton hidden there, her bones gnawed clean of all flesh.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
All published appearances of the Bakeneko from before January 1, 1929 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
- Hana Sagano Nekoma Ishibumi Shi
- Tōen Shosetsu
- Mimibukuro
- Shin Chomonjū
- Seiban Kaidan Jikki
- Kasshi Yawa
- Owari Ryōiki