◀ Back to the Yokaipedia PIXEL YOKAI

No.023

Bakeneko

THE SHAPESHIFTING CAT

Bakeneko
Pixel artOriginal art by Pixel Yokai
"Okabe" from Tokaido Gojusan Tsui
For reference: old artUtagawa Kuniyoshi
"Okabe" from Tokaido Gojusan Tsui
Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
Japanese name
化け猫（BAKENEKO）
Type
Animal spirit
Found in
Old houses, kitchens at night
Where the legend lives
  • Saga — Saga, the setting of the Nabeshima Bakeneko Disturbance, a tale spread by kabuki and kodan storytellers

◆ The legend

A yokai that a cat becomes after being kept for many years, or simply growing very old. Stories are told in many places of a cat seen in the middle of the night, standing on its hind legs with a hand towel on its head, dancing. It is said to speak in human words and to take the shape of its owner or someone in the household. Because cats live so close to people, their strange side has always felt a little eerie.

Bakeneko tales are full of cats that never forget a kindness, or a grudge. In some folktales, a cat cared for at a poor temple repays the favor; in others, a cat sets out to avenge its owner's sorrow. The "Nabeshima Bakeneko Disturbance," set in Saga, is a famous example of such a tale spread widely through kabuki and kodan storytelling. A cat whose tail splits in two is called a nekomata, and the two are sometimes told of together.

◆ Stories about this yokai

The Nabeshima Bakeneko Disturbance: A Saga Ghost-Cat Tale Spread by Theater and StorytellersThe Nabeshima Bakeneko Disturbance is Japan's best-known ghost-cat tale: a cat carrying its owner's sorrow slips into a castle in Saga. Spread through kabuki and kodan storytelling from the late Edo period, it is a story, not history. A gentle look at what makes it so gripping.