When Cats Become Something More

In Japanese mythology, the line between the natural and supernatural is famously permeable. Objects, animals, and even weather phenomena can gain spiritual power over time — and cats, with their mysterious eyes, silent movements, and seemingly otherworldly awareness, were prime candidates for supernatural transformation.

Enter the Bakeneko (化け猫, "monster cat") and its even more fearsome cousin, the Nekomata (猫又) — two of the most fascinating supernatural creatures in the Japanese yokai tradition.

The Bakeneko: The Shapeshifting Monster Cat

The Bakeneko is a cat that has lived long enough, grown large enough, or absorbed enough spiritual energy to transcend its animal nature and become a yokai — a supernatural being. Folklore describes several ways a cat might become a Bakeneko:

  • Living for 13 years or more
  • Growing to a weight exceeding a certain threshold (often described as one kan, roughly 3.75 kg)
  • Having a tail that grows unusually long
  • Being raised with excessive devotion or fed human food

Powers and Abilities

Bakeneko were believed to possess remarkable supernatural abilities:

  • Shapeshifting — most famously into humans, sometimes impersonating their own deceased owners
  • Walking on two legs
  • Speaking human language
  • Creating ghostly fireballs (kitsunebi-like flames)
  • Necromancy — the ability to reanimate the recently dead by leaping over their bodies
  • Controlling the minds of humans

This last power — the ability to reanimate corpses — was a serious cultural concern during Japan's Edo period. It was common practice to keep cats away from rooms where a body was laid out before burial, a custom that persisted in some rural areas well into the modern era.

The Nekomata: The Two-Tailed Mountain Cat

The Nekomata is related to the Bakeneko but typically portrayed as an older, more powerful, and more malevolent entity. Its defining characteristic is its forked or double tail — the result of an ordinary cat's tail splitting in two as it aged and gained spiritual power.

Nekomata were said to dwell in the mountains, far from human settlements, and were far more aggressive than their urban Bakeneko counterparts. Ancient texts describe them as large as dogs, preying on humans who ventured into the hills.

Why Tails Mattered

The association between long tails and supernatural power helps explain one enduring Japanese cultural practice: many Japanese families historically preferred short-tailed cats, believing they were less likely to transform into yokai. This preference is thought to have contributed to the prevalence of the naturally short-tailed Japanese Bobtail in Japan — though the genetic reality is simply a naturally occurring mutation rather than any supernatural selection.

Bakeneko in Popular Culture

These legends have proven extraordinarily resilient. The Bakeneko and Nekomata appear in:

  • Classical kabuki theater, where "bakeneko plays" were a popular genre
  • Edo period ukiyo-e woodblock prints by artists including Utagawa Kuniyoshi
  • Modern anime and manga (including Natsume's Book of Friends and Demon Slayer)
  • Video games, where Nekomata frequently appear as cat-type spirits or enemies

What These Legends Reveal About Japan's Relationship with Cats

The Bakeneko and Nekomata legends reflect a fundamentally ambivalent relationship with cats. Cats were loved, admired, and valued — but also respected as creatures with an inherent mystery that humans couldn't fully comprehend or control. They occupied a liminal space between the tame and the wild, the domestic and the magical.

That ambivalence hasn't disappeared. Even today, the cat's inscrutable gaze and unpredictable nature carry a faint echo of the supernatural — and perhaps that's part of why we find them so endlessly compelling.