Bakeneko (化け猫, "monster-cat"), in Japanese folklore, refers to cat yōkai (spiritual beings) with supernatural abilities akin to those of the kitsune (fox) or tanuki (raccoon dog). There are a number of superstitions that detail how ordinary cat may transform into a bakeneko. Bakeneko then haunt and menace their household.
A bakeneko with a forked tail is referred to as a nekomata (猫又, or 猫股 "forked-cat"). The popular good luck totem, the Maneki Neko(招き猫, "Beckoning Cat") found in shop fronts, is also a type of bakeneko.
According to Japanese folklore, a cat may become a bakeneko by meeting any of the following three conditions:[1]
- living over 10 years of age
- reaching one kan (3.75 kg or 8.25 lbs) in weight
- growing its tail too long, which, according to myth, may fork into two. This particular kind of bakeneko is referred to as a nekomata.
The latter superstition about tail-length possibly led some Japanese people to cut the tails off of cats to prevent their transformation into bakeneko. It may also have some connection to the breeding of short-tailed breeds like the Japanese Bobtail.
Once transformed, bakeneko gain a range of paranormal powers used to haunt the household they live in. These powers include:
- menacing (even eating) sleeping humans
- walking on its hind legs
- flying
- talking
- creating ghostly fireballs
- reanimating and controlling a fresh corpse by leaping over it
- shapeshifting into human form
They may use their shapeshifting powers to live a life as a human would normally, sometimes by taking the place of a member of the household after killing and consuming them in their sleep. They may take the form of a person they intend to kill or harm. Other stories tell about how a bakeneko may sometimes shapeshift into a beautiful girl, so that their owner would be able to marry them and have children.[citation needed]
Bakeneko also have the ability to eat anything in their way, regardless of size or edibility, including humans. Their main food is poison, particularly from a certain snake unknown to humankind.
Not all bakeneko are bad; in some stories they are faithful and good-hearted to their owners. Three stories in particular tie benevolent bakeneko to the legend of the famous maneki neko.
One such story is about a bakeneko named Tama. Tama's owner was a very poor priest who lived in a rundown temple in Setagaya, west of Tokyo. The priest would tell Tama, "I'm keeping you in spite of my poverty, so couldn't you do something for this temple?" One day the daimyo of the Hikone district, Ii Naotaka, was standing under a tree to avoid the rain. Naotaka became aware of a cat beckoning him to a temple gate. As he began to walk the tree was struck by lightning[citation needed]. Afterwards, Naotaka became friends with the temple priest, and donated lots of money to have the run-down temple rebuilt. When Tama died, the priest built a grave for the cat; eventually, a shrine was built within the temple grounds dedicated to the "beckoning cat". Gotokuji temple still stands today; the nearby Gōtokuji Station on the Odakyu Line was named after it.
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