Nekomata are a yokai of cats told about in folklore as well as classical kaidan, essays, etc. There are two very different types, the beast that lives in the mountains, and the ones raised domestically that grow old and transform. The most notable feature other than their large size is their forked tail.
The mountain variety is said to be large and viscious with “they have eyes like a cat, and have a large body like a dog,” There are many who raise the question of whether or not it really is a monster cat, and since there are statements that people suffer an illness called the “nekomata disease”, it can be interperreted that it is actually a beast that has caught rabies.
In the Edo period and afterwards, it was generally thought that cats raised domestically would turn into nekomata as they grew old, and the aforementioned nekomata of the mountains have were merely cats that ran away to live in the mountains. Because of that, a folk belief emerged in certain areas of Japan that cats should not to be raised to old age.
Far darker and 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 yokai are associated with strange fires and other unexplainable occurrences. The older, and the more poorly treated it was as a regular cat, the more power the nekomata is said to have. To gain revenge against those who have wronged it, the spirit may haunt humans with visitations from their dead relatives.
The mountain variety is said to be large and viscious with “they have eyes like a cat, and have a large body like a dog,” There are many who raise the question of whether or not it really is a monster cat, and since there are statements that people suffer an illness called the “nekomata disease”, it can be interperreted that it is actually a beast that has caught rabies.
In the Edo period and afterwards, it was generally thought that cats raised domestically would turn into nekomata as they grew old, and the aforementioned nekomata of the mountains have were merely cats that ran away to live in the mountains. Because of that, a folk belief emerged in certain areas of Japan that cats should not to be raised to old age.
Far darker and 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 yokai are associated with strange fires and other unexplainable occurrences. The older, and the more poorly treated it was as a regular cat, the more power the nekomata is said to have. To gain revenge against those who have wronged it, the spirit may haunt humans with visitations from their dead relatives.
