Bakeneko

Type of Japanese yōkai

The (化け猫, "changed cat") is a type of Japanese , or supernatural entity; more specifically, it is a , or supernatural cat. It is often confused with the , another cat like The distinction between them is often ambiguous, but the largest difference is that the has two tails, while the has only one. There are legends of in various parts of Japan, but the tale of the Nabeshima Disturbance in Saga Prefecture is especially famous.

The reason that cats are seen as in Japanese mythology is attributed to many of their characteristics: for example, the pupils of their eyes change shape depending on the time of day, their fur can seem to cause sparks when they are petted (due to static electricity), they sometimes lick blood, they can walk without making a sound, their wild nature that remains despite the gentleness they can show, they are difficult to control (unlike dogs), their sharp claws and teeth, nocturnal habits, and their speed and agility. Many other animals appear as in old tales and display similar attributes: the deep tenacity of snakes, the ability of foxes to shapeshift into women, and the brutality of in eating humans depicted in the Kachi kachi Yama folktale from the Edo period. However, cats figure in a great number of tales and superstitions because they live with humans yet retain their wild essence and air of mystery. In the Edo period encyclopedia Wakan Sansai Zue, it is said that a cat licking this oil is an omen of an impending strange event. People in the early modern period used cheap fish oils in lamps, e. g. sardine oil; that could explain cats wanting to lick them. Also, at that time the Japanese diet was based on grains and vegetables, and while the leftovers were fed to the cats, as carnivores, the cats would have lacked for protein and fat and therefore been even more attracted to lamp oils. Moreover, the sight of a cat standing on its hind legs to reach a lamp, its face lit with anticipation, could have seemed eerie and unnatural, like a
The mysterious air that cats possess was associated with prostitutes who worked in Edo period red light districts. This was the origin of a popular character in kusazōshi (among other publications), the bakeneko yūjo.

One famous 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. Historically, the Ryūzōji clan was older than the Nabeshima clan in Hizen. After Ryūzōji Takanobu's death, his assistant Nabeshima Naoshige held the real power, and after the sudden death of Takanobu's grandchild Takafusa, his father Masaie also committed suicide. Afterwards, since the remnants of the Ryūzōji clan created disturbances in the public order near the Saga castle, Naoshige, in order to pacify the spirits of the Ryūzōji, built Tenyū ji (now in Tafuse, Saga). This has been considered the origin of the disturbance and it is thought that the was an expression of the Ryūzōji's grudge in the form of a cat. Also, the inheritance of power from the Ryūzōji clan to the Nabeshima clan was not an issue, but because of Takanobu's death, and Nabeshima Katsushige's son's sudden death, some point out that this (ghost story) arose from a dramatization of this series of events. This legend was turned into a (play). In the Kaei period (1848–1854), it was first performed in Nakamura za as (史). The "Sagano" in the title is a place in Tokyo Prefecture, but it was actually a pun on the word This work became very popular throughout the country, but a complaint from the Saga domain brought the performances to a quick stop. However, since the (a samurai official of the shogunate) who filed the complaint for the performances to be stopped was Nabeshima Naotaka of the Nabeshima clan, the gossip about the disturbance spread even more. After that, the tale was widely circulated in society in the (佐賀の夜桜) and the historical record book (佐賀怪猫伝). In the (a style of traditional oral Japanese storytelling), because Ryūzōji's widow told of her sorrow to the cat, it became a , and killed and ate Komori Hanzaemon's mother and wife. It then shapeshifted and appeared in their forms, and cast a curse upon the family. In the historical record book, this was completely unrelated to the Ryūzōji event, however, and a foreign type of cat, which had been abused by Nabeshima's feudal lord Komori Handayū, sought revenge and killed and ate the lord's favorite concubine, shapeshifted into her form, and caused harm to the family. It was Itō Sōda who exterminated it. In the beginning of the Shōwa period (1926–1989), films such as (伝) and (敷) became quite popular. Actresses like Takako Irie and Sumiko Suzuki played the part of the and became well known as "bakeneko actresses." Old stories about from that time period are often associated with temples, but it is thought that the reason for this is that when Buddhism came to Japan, in order to protect the sutras (sacred texts) from being chewed on by rats, cats were brought along too. the (集), and the (記). Similarly, tales of dancing cats can be seen in the (話), and the (記). In the fourth volume of "Mimibukuro", it is stated that any cat anywhere that lives for ten years would begin to speak as a human, and that cats born from the union of a fox and a cat would begin speaking even before ten years had passed. According to tales of cats that transform, aged cats would very often shapeshift into old women.