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Nekomata

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"Nekomata (猫また)" from the Hyakkai Zukan by Sawaki Suushi

Nekomata (original form: 猫また, later forms: 猫又, 猫股, 猫胯) are a kind of cat yōkai described in Chinese and then Japanese folklore, classical kaidan, essays, etc. There are two very different types: those that live in the mountains and domestic cats that grow old and transform.[1] Nekomata are often confused with Bakeneko.

Mountain Nekomata

"Nekomata to Iu Koto (ねこまたといふ事)" from the "Tonoigusa" by Ansei Agita. A scene of a hunter shooting a nekomata that has shapeshifted into the hunter's mother.

In China, nekomata appear in stories even earlier than in Japan. In the Sui dynasty, the words 猫鬼 and 金花猫 described mysterious cats. In Japanese literature, the nekomata first appeared in the Meigetsuki by Fujiwara no Teika in the early Kamakura period: in the beginning of Tenpuku (1233), August 2, in Nanto (now Nara Prefecture), a nekomata (猫胯) was said to have killed and eaten several people in one night. The nekomata was described as a mountain beast: according to the Meigetsuki, "They have eyes like a cat, and have a large body like a dog." The essay Tsurezuregusa from the late Kamakura period (circa 1331) asserts, "In the mountain recesses, there are those called nekomata, and people say that they eat humans... (奥山に、猫またといふものありて、人を食ふなると人の言ひけるに……)."[2][3] However, many people question whether the nekomata really is a cat monster [2]. Since people are said to suffer an illness called "nekomata disease (猫跨病)", some interpret the nekomata to be a beast that has caught rabies.[4]

Even in the kaidan collections, the "Tonoigusa (宿直草)" and the "Sorori Monogatari (曾呂利物語)," nekomata conceal themselves in mountain recesses; and there are stories that deep in the mountains they shapeshift into humans.[5][6] In folk religion there are many stories of mountainous nekomata.[1] In later literature, the mountain nekomata tend to be larger. In the "Shin Chomonjū (新著聞集)" nekomata captured in the mountains of Kii Province are as large as a wild boar; in the "Wakun no Shiori (倭訓栞)" of 1775 (Anei 4), their roaring echos throughout the mountain, and they can be seen as big as a lion or leopard. In the "Gūisō (寓意草)" of 1809 (Bunka 6), a nekomata that held a dog in its mouth was described as having a span of 9 shaku and 5 sun (about 2.8 meters).[2]

In Etchū Province (now Toyama Prefecture), in Aizu, at Nekomatayama said to be where nekomata would devour humans (now Fukushima Prefecture), nekomata that shapeshift into humans and deceive people, like Mount Nekomadake, the legends sometimes are named after the name of the associated mountain.[4] Regarding Nekomatayama and altogether disregarding folklore, there are in fact large cats that attack humans.[7]

Domesticated cat Nekomata

At the same time, in the Kokon Chomonjū of the Kamakura period, in the story "Kankyō Hōin (観教法印)", an old cat raised in a villa on a mountain precipice held a secret treasure in its mouth, a protective sword, and ran away. People chased the cat, but it disguised itself and left behind that the pet cat became a monster. In the aforementioned "Tsurezuregusa," in addition to nekomata that conceal themselves in the mountains, there are descriptions of pet cats that grow old, transform, and eat and abduct people.[3]

Since the Edo period, it has become generally believed that domestic cats turn into nekomata as they grow old, and mounainous nekomata have come to be interpreted as cats that have run away to live in the mountains. As a result, throughout Japan a folk belief developed that cats should not be kept for long periods.[1]

In the "Ansai Zuihitsu (安斎随筆)" the courtier Sadatake Ise stated, "A cat that is several years of age will come to have two tails, and become the yōkai called nekomata." The mid-Edo period scholar Arai Hakuseki stated, "Old cats become 'nekomata' and bewilder people." and indicated that at that time it was common sense to believe that cats become nekomata. Even the Edo-period Kawaraban reported this strange phenomenon.[2]

In the book Yamato Kaiiki (大和怪異記, engl. "Mysterious stories from Japan"), written by an unknown author in 1708, a story speaks about a rich samurai's haunted house where the inhabitants witness several poltergeist activities. Attempting to end those events, the samurai invited countless shamans, priests and evokers; but none of them were able to locate the source of the terror. One day, one of the most loyal servants saw his master's aged cat carrying in its mouth a shikigami with the name of the samurai imprinted on it. The servant immediately shot a sacred arrow, hitting the cat in its head. As the cat lay dead on the floor, everyone could see that the cat had two tails and therefore had become a nekomata. With the death of the demon-cat the poltergeist activities ended. Similar eerie stories about encounters with nekomata appear in books such as Taihei Hyakumonogatari (太平百物語, engl. "Collection of 100 fairy tales"), written by Yusuke (祐佐, or Yūsa) in 1723 and in Rōō Chabanashi (老媼茶話, "Tea-time gossip of old ladies"), by Misaka Daiyata (三坂大彌), 1742.

It is generally said that the "mata" (又) of "nekomata" refers to their having two tails; but from the perpective of folkloristics, this appears questionable. Since nekomata transform as they age, the meaning of "mata" in the sense of "repetition" is postulated. Alternatively, since they were once thought to be mountain beasts, there is a theory that "mata" (爰) refers to monkeys, since nekomata can come and go freely among the mountain trees.[8] There is also a theory that the term derives from the way in which cats that grow old shed the skin off their backs and hang downwards, making it seem like they have two tails.[9]

Cats are often associated with death in Japan, and this particular spirit is often blamed. 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 yōkai are associated with strange fires and other unexplainable occurrences. The older, and the more badly treated a cat has been before its transformation, 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. Like bakeneko, some tales state how these demons have taken on human appearance – but have usually appeared as older women, behaving badly in public and bringing gloom and malevolence wherever they travelled. Sometimes the tails of kittens were cut off as a precaution as it was thought that if their tails could not fork, they could not become nekomata

From this discernment and strange characteristics, nekomata have been considered devilish ones from time immemorial. Due to fears and folk beliefs such as the dead resurrecting at a funeral, or that seven generations would be cursed as a result of killing a cat, it is thought that the legend of the nekomata was born.[4][10] Also, in folk beliefs cats and the dead are related. As carnivores, cats have a sharp sense of detecting the smell of rotting, and so it was believed that they had a trait of approaching corpses; with this folk belief sometimes the kasha, a yōkai that steals the corpses of the dead, are seen to be the same as the nekomata.[1]

Also in Japan there are cat yōkai called the bakeneko, but since nekomata are certainly the yōkai of transformed cats, sometimes nekomata are confused with bakeneko.[11]

Yōkai depictions

Nekomata (猫また) from Bakemono no e (化物之繪, c. 1700), Harry F. Bruning Collection of Japanese Books and Manuscripts, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.
Nekomata (猫また) from the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Sekien Toriyama

In the Edo period, many in style of illustrated reference books, yōkai emaki, have been made, and nekomata are frequently the subject of these yōkai depictions. In the Hyakkai Zukan published in 1737 (Gembun 2), there was a depiction of a nekomata taking on the appearance of a human female playing a shamisen, but since shamisen in the Edo period were frequently made by using the skins of cats, the nekomata played the shamisen and sang a sad song about its own species,[1] and has been interpreted as a kind of irony etc.[12] Concerning the fact that they wear geisha clothing, there is the viewpoint they are related due to the fact that geisha were once called "cats (neko)"[12] (refer to first image).

Also, in the "Gazu Hyakki Yagyō" published in 1776 (An'ei 5) (refer to image on right), with a depiction of a cat on the left with its head coming out of a shōji, a cat on the right with a handkerchief on its head and its forepaw on the veranda, and a cat in the middle also wearing a handkerchief and standing on two legs, and thus as a cat that has not had enough experience and thus as difficulty standing on two legs, a cat that has grown older and has become able to stand on two legs, it can be seen to be depicting the process by which a normal cat grows older and transforms into a nekomata.[12] Also, in the Bigelow collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (the ukiyo-e collection), in the "Hyakki Yagyō Emaki", since pretty much the same composition of nekomata has been depicted, some have pointed out a relation between them.[13]

Senri

In China there is a cat yōkai called "senri (仙狸)" (where 狸 means "leopard cat"). This is where leopard cats that grow old gain a divine spiritual power, and they would shapeshift into a beautiful man or woman and suck the spirit out of humans.[14]

There is the theory that the legends of nekomata of Japan come from tales of the senri.[15]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e 多田 (2000)、170–171頁。
  2. ^ a b c d 笹間 (1994)、127–128頁。
  3. ^ a b 平岩 (1992)、36–66頁。
  4. ^ a b c 石川 (1986)、696頁。
  5. ^ 荻田安静編著 (1989). "宿直草". In 高田衛編・校中 (ed.). 江戸怪談集. 岩波文庫. Vol. 上. 岩波書店. pp. 121–124. ISBN 978-4-00-302571-0.
  6. ^ 編著者不詳 (1989). "曾呂利物語". In 高田衛編・校中 (ed.). 江戸怪談集. 岩波文庫. Vol. 中. 岩波書店. pp. 57–58. ISBN 978-4-00-302572-7.
  7. ^ 谷川健一 (1998). 続 日本の地名. 岩波新書. 岩波書店. p. 146. ISBN 978-4-00-430559-0.
  8. ^ 日野巌 (2006). 動物妖怪譚. 中公文庫. Vol. 下. 中央公論新社. pp. 158–159. ISBN 978-4-12-204792-1.
  9. ^ "ネコのうんちく". カフェ にゃんまる. Archived from the original on 2012-11-14. Retrieved 2012-11-03. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ 佐野賢治他 (1980). 桜井徳太郎編 (ed.). 民間信仰辞典. 東京堂出版. p. 223. ISBN 978-4-490-10137-9.
  11. ^ 京極夏彦 (2010). "妖怪の宴 妖怪の匣 第6回". In 郡司聡他編 (ed.). 怪. カドカワムック. Vol. vol.0029. 角川書店. p. 122. ISBN 978-4-04-885055-1. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  12. ^ a b c 古山他 (2005)、155頁。
  13. ^ 湯本豪一編著 (2006). 続・妖怪図巻. 国書刊行会. pp. 161–165. ISBN 978-4-336-04778-6.
  14. ^ 新紀元社編集部 (2003). 健部伸明監修 (ed.). 真・女神転生悪魔事典. Truth In Fantasy. 新紀元社. p. 94. ISBN 978-4-7753-0149-4.
  15. ^ 一条真也監修 (2010). 世界の幻獣エンサイクロペディア. 講談社. p. 194. ISBN 978-4-06-215952-4.

References

  • 石川純一郎他 (1986). 乾克己他編 (ed.). 日本伝奇伝説大事典. 角川書店. ISBN 978-4-04-031300-9.
  • 笹間良彦 (1994). 図説・日本未確認生物事典. 柏書房. ISBN 978-4-7601-1299-9.
  • 多田克己 (2000). 京極夏彦・多田克己編 (ed.). 妖怪図巻. 国書刊行会. ISBN 978-4-336-04187-6.
  • 平岩米吉 (1992). "猫股伝説の変遷". 猫の歴史と奇話. 築地書館. ISBN 978-4-806-72339-4.
  • 古山桂子他 (2005). 播磨学研究所編 (ed.). 播磨の民俗探訪. 神戸新聞総合出版センター. ISBN 978-4-343-00341-6.
  • Patrick Drazen: A Gathering of Spirits: Japan's Ghost Story Tradition: from Folklore and Kabuki to Anime and Manga. iUniverse, New York 2011, ISBN 1-4620-2942-6, page 114.
  • Elli Kohen: World history and myths of cats. Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston 2003, ISBN 0-7734-6778-5, page 48–51.
  • Carl Van Vechten: The Tiger In The House. Kessinger Publishing, Whitefish 2004 (Reprint), ISBN 1-4179-6744-7, page 96.
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