Yōkai of the day: Nekomata

Thanks to the recent popularity of Yōkai watch, most people might already be familiar with today’s Yōkai. Nekomata is a feline Yōkai with two tails. They can walk on their hind legs, dance, shapshift, and talk. They are often confused with a similar cat Yōkai, the bakeneko. However, Nekomata are a more sinister malevolent version. They are supposed to be able to manipulate corpses like horrible marionettes, and sometimes eat sleeping humans. In the cartoon it’s hard to imagine this cute little fellah doing either of those things.

Cats, are often connected with the supernatural in many cultures and this no different in Japan. There is a strong connection with cats and death and plenty of superstition about killing one. Cats are often thought to become  Yōkai if they live to a certain age (100 years), drink fish oil used in lamps, gain a certain weight (I don’t know what this is) and if their tail splits. A lot of cats apparently actually used to have their tails cut off to prevent them from becoming Yōkai.  Supposedly older cats were even supposed to teach younger ones to become monsters, so cats in groups were also feared. These were actually domestic cats, but another type of Nekomata existed and were more aggressive, living in the mountains and hunting down humans.