bakeneko monster cat legends

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. Japanese legends and tales 伝説 民話 昔話 - Introduction .
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bakeneko 化け猫 / 化猫と伝説 Legends about monster cats



. bakeneko 化け猫 / 化猫 monster cat .
- Introduction -
futamata kaijuu 二股怪獣 monster animal with two tails

. nekomata 猫又 legends about Nekomata cats .

. neko 猫 / ねこ と伝説 Legends about cats, Katzen .

Bakeneko of Okabe - Tokaido, 岡部宿

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.
. source : Cat Witches of Japan .

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- - - - - ABC List of the prefectures :

neko wa mamono 猫は魔物
In many prefectures, the cat is seen as a mamono 魔物 monster, especially when it gets old.

rooneko 老猫 old cat
kaineko, kaibyoo 怪猫 Kaibyo, monster cat
nekomata 猫又 monster cat


......................................................................................... Aomori 青森県
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八戸市 Hachinohe city

. An old cat tries to kill a priest .




......................................................................................... Chiba 千葉県

Since a cat is a monster, it should not be allowed at the side of a dead person.




......................................................................................... Ehime 愛媛県
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喜多郡 Kita district

On the bed of a dead person a kamisori カミソリ razor blade or a tantoo 短刀 short sword should be placed.
Since a monster cat might come to do harm, this would prevent it.
A cat should not be allowed to sit on the bed.




......................................................................................... Fukushima 福島県
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東白川郡 Higashi-Shirakawa district 塙町 Hanawa town

Once a Bakeneko killed the wife of the lord and shape-shifted in her features. All went well for some time, but then a maid servant saw the face of a cat in the mirror when the wife looked.
So the Bakeneko killed the maid servant too.

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Fukushima 飯坂町 Iizaka town

To prevent cats and monsters to come near a dead person, a tantoo 短刀 short sword should be placed on the bed.
A hooki 箒 broom should be placed at the head of the dead person.
Therefore a broom should never be used to hit a living person on the head.

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Fukushima 郡山市 Koriyama city 湖南町 Konan machi town

. Cat from the pass Gosansho Toge .
The 石川街道 Ishikawa Kaido was crossing the pass ごさんしょ峠 / 御斎所峠 Gosansho Toge.

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Fukushima 耶麻郡 Yama district

. Nekomadake 猫魔岳と伝説 Legends about Mount Nekomadake .
Kobo Daishi banning a monster cat to become a huge boulder.

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Fukushima 耶麻郡 Yama district 北塩原村 Kita-Shiobara village

Once upon a time, 穴沢善右衛門 Anazawa Zenemon spent the night in his mountain hut. A huge cat shape-shifted to an old woman and wanted to come in, but he saw the spook and refused.
The next day when he came home, he found his wife bound to a tree and her teeth torn out.
There was a kikori 樵夫 woodcutter nearby, but that was the husband of the monster cat.
To get his revenge, Zenemon said he had killed his wife, made the cat eat her bones and left.
Next he took some companions, went into the cave where the monster cat lived and killed it.




......................................................................................... Ibaraki 茨城県
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ひたちなか市 Hitachinaka city

Once 化猫 a monster cat came to the temple 華蔵院 Kezo-In and made things wet. It took the prayer clappers and made music for the other beasts to dance.
Next morning all was wet, so the priest knew there were more cats dancing.
The monster cat was wearing the robes of the priest and he found them all wet next morning.


source : ibamemo.com/2017...




......................................................................................... Ishikawa 石川県
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白山市 Hakusan city 河内町 Kawachi town

Since the cat is 魔物 a monster, if it crosses the procession of a burial, it will possess the soul of the dead and might be reborn as a human.
A knife should be placed on the stomach of a dead person.




......................................................................................... Kagawa 香川県
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高松市 Takamatsu city

In a valley called スリバチ谷 Suribachidani in the West of Takamatsu city there is a mound made of stones.
Once there lives a 怪猫 monster cat which killed people coming to the mountain and sucked their blood. It also caused damage to the fields.
Once the cat was taking a nap in the daytime in this valley when a nearby volcano erupted and the cat burned in the flames and flew down with the rocks.
The villagers were glad it was over now, took some of the rocks and built a nekozuka 猫塚 cat mound to appease its soul.




......................................................................................... Kanagawa 神奈川県
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相模原市 Sagamihara city 緑区 Midori ward

. Raijin 雷神と伝説 Legends about the God of Thunder and Lightning .
Since the cat is a monster, one should not hug it during a thunderstorm.
As a monster, the cat might posses Rai Sama 雷様 the God of Thunder.




......................................................................................... Miyagi 宮城県

The cat is seen as a monster, and thus put into a basket when kept inside the home.

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青葉区 Aoba ward

In the nearby river, toward 宮城町 Miyagimachi, there is a large stone, 畳岩 as big as a Tatami mat.
In former times three lives a monster cat on this boulder, who did a lot of mischief to the travelers.

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Miyagi 気仙沼市 Kesennuma city

. onbyoo ootenba 怨猫大天婆 / オンビョウオオテンバ the monster cat Onbyo Daiten Ba .
about the grandmother of 儀八郎 Gihachiro and the Neko-ishi 猫石
daitenbaa 大天婆（だいてんばばあ）Daiten Ba, Daiten Baba, Old Cat Yokai

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Miyagi 本吉町 Motoyoshi town

As long as dead person is kept in the home, there should be six byoobu 屏風 folding screens upside-down to surround it.
A mi 箕 winnow should be placed on its breast, to prevent a monster cat to come close to the dead.

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Miyagi 仙台市 Sendai city 太白区 Taihaku ward

. tori no haka 鶏の墓 the grave of a rooster .
Similar to the one told in Aomori, Hachinohe, about a monster cat.

Daruma san changes into a cat . . .

......................................................................................... Nagano 長野県
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Nagano 諏訪郡 Suwa district

A dead person should be dressed in a night robe with the belt on the other side. A knife or other blade should be placed on its body.
They will prevent a monster to come in and prevent a monster cat from eating the dead body.

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Nagano 上田市 Ueda city

. kaibyo Kotababa 怪猫小太ばば The Monster Cat Kotababa, Kota Baba .
Kotaroo Yashiki 小太郎屋敷 The Home of the Kotaro Family
and
Neko Yakushi 猫薬師 Yakushi Nyorai and the Cats

Onoe Kikugorō III as the Cat Witch of Okabe
Representing Okazaki on the Tōkaidō Road




......................................................................................... Tochigi 栃木県
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A knife must be placed on the blanket over a dead body to prevent monster cats from coming and doing harm.




......................................................................................... Tokushima 徳島県

Around 1650, a monster cat was doing harm to the livestock and small children.
The villagers eventually caught it, killed it and threw it into the river. When they did it, the mountain made a terrible sound, water was welling up and a large turtle was thrown out of the water. Therefore the villagers calle the riverside now 猫淵 Nekobuchi.




......................................................................................... Tokyo　東京
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品川区 Shinagawa ward

. onbyoo 怨猫 The revengeful cat .




......................................................................................... Toyama 富山県
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A dead person is placed in the main living room, his head facing North.
The face shows South and some folding screens must be placed upside-down around it.
A knife must be placed on the breast of the body.
One must make sure that no cat comes near the dead body.




......................................................................................... Yamanashi 山梨県
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北巨摩郡 Kita-Koma district 長坂町 Nagasaka town，大泉村 Oizumi village

A knife is placed on the breast of a dead person to prevent cats and monsters to come close.

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- reference : nichibun yokai database 妖怪データベース -
怨猫 / 怪猫 / 猫魔 / 魔物 猫 - OK
25 化け猫 (00)
20 化猫 (00)
12 老猫 ?



一陽齋豊國 Ichiyo Toyokuni

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. animals and their legends 動物と伝説 - - ABC list .

. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話　昔話 - Introduction .

- Yookai 妖怪 Yokai Monsters of Japan -

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. neko 猫 / ねこ と伝説 Legends about cats, Katzen .

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