Cats in Japanese Folklore and Culture
From kawaii (cute) to kaibyo (supernatural)
Entire books could be, and have been, written about cats in Japanese culture and folklore. Cats in Japan are both revered and feared with the spectrum ranging from kawaii (cute) cat characters, through to terrifying yokai cats who eat humans alive. Because the topic is so vast, this post will just scratch the surface but will include:
the legend of the maneki neko
an introduction to yokai cats
some folktales about cats
a recommendation for books and a film
a collection of Japanese woodblock art featuring cats.
I hope you enjoy it!
Kawaii cats
Japan has somewhat of a love affair with cats and often the cuter they are the better. You can find kawaii (cute) cat characters in anime, pop culture and even decor. I’ve included just three examples below, Hello Kitty, Pusheen and Neko from Sumikko Gurashi. And in case you don’t know, the Japanese word for cat is neko (猫, ねこ) which leads us on to lucky cats.
Maneki Neko
Maneki Neko can be translated from Japanese as ‘inviting cat’ or ‘beckoning cat’ and the statues representing good luck are now popular throughout the world. There is a tale that explains why this waving cat is believed to invite good luck into your life. The legend goes that one stormy night a traveller was walking home and saw a cat waving at him in the dark. On approaching the cat, a bolt of lightning hit the ground where the man had been standing, meaning that the cat had saved his life. Filled with gratitude, the traveller built a statue and temple in the cat's honour, starting a tradition of the lucky cat that has continued to the present day. Gotokuji Temple in Tokyo is said to be the temple built to honour maneki neko. I took the photos there on my last trip to Japan. Visitors purchase the statues to write their wishes on before leaving them as offerings.
Wherever you go in Japan you will see maneki neko statues of various colours, with each colour apparently able to bring different kinds of luck. For example, gold brings wealth and money, white brings happiness, blue brings harmony and peace, black protects against enemies, and red protects against disease.
Yokai Cats
While cats are enormously popular in Japan, when it comes to folklore there are a collection of supernatural cats that are anything but cute. These terrifying yokai cats are known collectively as kaibyo and are definitely the stuff of nightmares.
Bakeneko
Bakeneko are changing cats, a type of yokai that is able to take human shape and blend in with society. It is believed that once cats have lived their full lifespan, they are able to transform from regular cats into yokai. In some versions of the folklore it is believed that a bakeneko can transform sooner if they drink the blood of murder victims. Even if these monster cats retain their cat form, they are able to speak human language, wear human clothes and have even been known to dance around with tea towels over their heads.
If you are a cat owner you must be especially careful. Some tales tell of cats who transform into bakeneko, eat their owners, take on their form and continue living on in their place. So if you have cat-owning friends do beware if they start to behave a little differently.
Nekomata
It is believed that when house cats live to a very old age, their tail will split in two and they begin to walk on their back legs. These creatures, knowns as nekomata, then possess supernatural powers and are capable of evil deeds. Some suggest that this folklore came about because cats were known to lick the oil from lamps, which often meant they were up on their hind legs. When this was viewed in the shadowy darkness, the idea of a cat that was able to walk around and act like a human was born. In art they are often depicted playing traditional Japanese instruments such as shamisen which is all the more creepy considering they were orginally made using cat skin.
Kasha
In Japanese the word kasha roughly translates as flaming cart. Originally this folklore was linked to Buddhist beliefs and superstitions around death. It was believed that if thunder was heard during a funeral, a kasha was on it's way to snatch the dead body. The practice of placing stones on coffins was to stop the corpses from rising up and joining the kasha in its fiery cart. It was also important never to leave a cat alone with a dead body lest he transform into a kasha and drag the corpse away.
Cat Witches of Japan
There are many tales about cat witches that are connected to Japanese yokai cats. These are not witches in the western sense of the term, but rather evil supernatural spirits that take the form of a cat.
The Cat Witch of Okabe
One famous tale is known as the Cat Witch of Okabe. It was said that an evil bakeneko haunted the temple grounds in the town of Okabe. She disguised herself as a kind old woman with the aim of luring young girls to her lair to kill and eat them. Because she was so terribly evil, her corpse turned into stone when she died. This tale was likely inspired by a stone in the shape of a cat, however as the location of this story is lost, so too is the stone.
The Cat Witch of Okazaki
In the tale of The Cat Witch of Okazaki, three travellers stopped at a temple on their way home from a pilgrimage. They found a kind old lady called Osan living there who invited them to spend the night. While there, they witnessed something very strange as two cats began dancing around on their hind legs. Osan saw their surprise, but quickly assured them it was a normal occurrence. Later that night one of the travellers was alone with the old lady and noticed that her shadow on the far wall was actually in the shape of a cat. Too late she realised that Osan was actually an evil bakeneko. A second traveller also died from wounds inflicted by a giant cat. The last man alive finally understood what was happening and fortunately was able to overpower the evil cat spirit and kill her with his sword.
There were many plays featuring cat witches, or evil bakeneko. Often these were spirits who returned and took the form of a cat in order to avenge their enemies. These cat witch tales were often the subject of kabuki plays and ukiyo-e prints, some examples of which are below.
The Boy Who Drew Cats
'The Boy Who Drew Cats' is one of my favourite Japanese folk tales and portrays cats in a far more positive light than those mentioned above. The tale was first translated into English by Lafcadio Hearn and is about a young boy who loved drawing cats so much that he drew them everywhere. He wasn't a strong boy and his parents were concerned about what he might do in life, so they took him to a monastery to see if they would take him in as an acolyte. The priest was very kind and the boy started to settle in to his new life there.
But when he drew cats all over the monastery's silk screens one day, the priest suggested it was best if the boy left and perhaps return to his home. As he was walking away, the priest offered some advice by saying 'avoid the big and keep to the small.' The boy was too ashamed to go home and so he headed for the next town. As it began to get dark, he came across a larger monastery. What he didn't realise was that this one was in fact empty because it had been abandoned years ago. He wandered around inside until he found a large room where he saw some more screens. Unable to help himself, he began drawing and by the time he was finished, the screens were covered in cats.
By now the boy was exhausted and as he decided to lie down to sleep, he remembered the advice of the priest, 'avoid the big and keep to the small.' This was an awfully big room and so he saw a small cupboard at the end, with just room enough for him to crawl in and curl up to sleep. In the middle of the night the boy was woken by the sound of howling and screaming. He lay inside the cupboard terrified and the noise went on and on. As the morning light began to creep in, the noise stopped and after some time he felt brave enough to peek outside. What he saw was a giant rat, dead and bleeding in the middle of the room. On the screens, the cats he had drawn all had blood dripping from their mouths and paws. These very same cats that he had drawn last night had come to life and saved him from the giant rat goblin that had overtaken the monastery. The villagers were so grateful that the boy became a hero.
Cats in Japanese Art
If you follow my notes here on Substack you may have seen that I often post Japanese woodblock prints that feature cats. There are a lot to choose from but I thought I’d share a selection for any fellow cat-lovers. Utagawa Kuniyoshi was a prolific ukiyo-e artist during the Edo period who adored cats and was even said to work with a cat on his lap. He produced a sizeable collection of prints featuring cats some of which you can see below.
In the next gallery are a few more of my favourites. In the second row you can see on the left a print that was designed for children to be cut up and used like paper dolls. Alongside it are two prints depicting hot springs populated by cats.
In the mid 1800s the government of Japan banned pictures of actors to ensure that moral standards remained high. As a result, ukiyo-e artists often replaced the famous actors with cats. The example below is from 1860.
While there are many more prints featuring cats I will just finish up with some modern prints from the shin-hanga movement which was in the early 20th century.
Film recommendation
If you love cats, Studio Ghibli films, and lots of weirdness, you should definitely check out ‘The Cat Returns.’ Directed by Hiroyuki Morita, the film is a spin-off from another Ghibli film ‘Whisper of the Heart’ and features a manga character, Baron the Cat. the film is a bizarre but magical tale that includes talking cats, nocturnal cat parades, and an entire kingdom of cats that act like humans.
Japanese literature featuring cats
The popularity of cats in Japan is also reflected in literature. There are many books that feature cats and below is a small selection that have been translated into English. There are some that I have read and some still in my ‘to be read’ pile. My personal favourite from the list below is ‘The Guest Cat.’
I Am a Cat – Soseki Natusume
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women – Jun’ichiro Tanizaki
The Guest Cat – Takashi Hiraide
The Travelling Cat Chronicles – Hiro Arikawa
If Cats Disappeared From the World – Genki Kawamura
She and Her Cat – Makoto Shinkai and Naruki Nagakawa
Mornings with My Cat Mii – Mayumi Inaba
To finish this article I though I’d share a few photographs of cats that I took in on my first trip to Japan and a very famous ukiyo-e print featuring a cat by Utagawa Hiroshige. I hope you have enjoyed reading about cats in Japanese folklore and culture.
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This is so awesome, I love how exhaustively documented this is 😂
I love it too! There was so much I could have included but it was just getting too long. 🙂