Tag: BAKENEKO
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The Bewitching Cats of Japan: A Curated Guide to Bakeneko and Nekomata
Introduction: Where Familiar Pets Become Unfamiliar Spirits In Japanese folklore, no creature slips more elegantly between the domestic and the uncanny than the cat. Across woodblock prints, folktales, temple legends, and Edo-period stage plays, cats evolve into beings of both beauty and unease—beings that watch, remember, transform, and sometimes avenge. Japan’s cat yokai are neither…
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When Demons Choose the Dying: The Bakeneko Possession of Saga Domain
Why This Tale Among the numerous bakeneko legends scattered throughout Japanese folklore, this particular account from the Saga region has always struck me as unusually layered. Most cat-demon stories follow a predictable arc: a cat grows old, transforms, and terrorizes. This one doesn’t. What drew me to this tale was its refusal to settle into…