Bakeneko

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nekomata walking on its hind legs, illustrated by Toriyama Sekien.

A bakeneko (化け猫, bakeneko^? "monster cat") is, in Japanese folklore, a cat with supernatural abilities akin to those of the fox or raccoon dog. A cat may become a bakeneko in a number of ways: it may reach a certain age, be kept for a certain number of years, grow to a certain size, or be allowed to keep a long tail. In the last case, the tail forks in two and the bakeneko is then called a nekomata (猫又, nekomata^? ,猫叉, or 猫股 "forked cat"). This superstition may have some connection to the breeding of the Japanese Bobtail.

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.

[edit] In popular culture

The character Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro is a cat-like monster which can change its shape into one resembling a bus, likely inspired by Japanese folklore involving shapeshifting cats.
The character Blaze the Cat from the Sonic the Hedgehog series of videogames is an anthropomorphic cat gifted with pyrokinetic abilities, similar to the fire-wielding bakeneko.

Japanese popular culture contains a large number of two-tailed cat characters based on the nekomata. Some of these include:

Kirara, the pet of Sango in InuYasha.
The Pokémon, Espeon.
The Digimon, Bastemon and Gatomon X
The nekomata appears in the PlayStation 2 (PS2) game Disgaea as a humanoid cat-monster.
The Nekomata is a fixture of the Megaten metaseries.
In the manga Shaman King, Hao Asakura's spirit ally from 1,000 years ago is a nekomata named Matamune.
A character named Yugito in Naruto contains a Two-Tailed Demon Cat.
In the manga/anime series Hyper Police the character Natsuki Sasahara is half human and half nekomata.
The danmaku scrolling shooter Perfect Cherry Blossom Stage 2 boss is Chen, a nekomata.
In the Gokusen anime the rival gang is known as the Neko Mata Group and their leader closely resembles a nekomata.
In the anime Inukami!, the character Tomekichi is a benevolent nekomata who honors an obligation to a deceased priest who once took care of him.
In the anime Yu Yu Hakusho, there is a brief appearance of a nekomata character named simply "Nekotama".
In the video game Battlefield 2142, the main battle tank of the Pan-Asian Coalition is designated the "Type 4 Nekomata".
In the anime Ayakashi, there is a rather unorthodox depiction of a ghostlike bakeneko, haunting, more like decimating a family briefly, until exorcised by an unnamed, mysterious druggist.
In Tekken 5:Dark Ressurection(PSP). You can buy a split tail for Armor King.
In the video game Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army, the Skill Nekomata is a agile, human-like cat sporting a long tail.

[edit] References

Casal, U. A. (1959). "The Goblin Fox and Badger and Other Witch Animals of Japan". Folklore Studies 18: pp. 1-93.
Mizuki, Shigeru (2003). Mujara 3: Kinki-hen. Japan: Soft Garage, p. 108. ISBN 4861330068.
Mizuki, Shigeru (2003). Mujara 2: Chūbu-hen. Japan: Soft Garage, p. 88, 117. ISBN 486133005X.