Cat kami meaning12/17/2023 Bakeneko stories are not only about aged cats, but also sometimes about revenge against cruel humans. Depending on the area, there are stories in which cats that were brutally killed by humans would become bakeneko and curse that human. There are also many regions where, due to this superstition, people decided in advance for how many years they would raise a cat. In Yamagata District, Hiroshima Prefecture, it is said that a cat raised for seven years or longer will kill the one that raised it. There are tales of cats that became bakeneko after being raised for twelve years in Ibaraki Prefecture and Nagano Prefecture, and for thirteen years in Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture. Folk legends Īs with the nekomata, another cat-like yōkai which is said to evolve from a cat whose tail split into two when it grew old, there are folk beliefs across Japan about aged cats turning into bakeneko. This was the origin of a popular character in kusazōshi (among other publications), the bakeneko yūjo. The mysterious air that cats possess was associated with prostitutes who worked in Edo-period red-light districts. The stealing of household objects is commonly associated with many Japanese ghosts, and thus the disappearance of lamp oil when a cat was present helped to associate the cat with the supernatural. Moreover, the sight of a cat standing on its hind legs to reach a lamp, its face lit with anticipation, could have seemed eerie and unnatural, like a yōkai. Also, at that time the Japanese diet was based on grains and vegetables, and while the leftovers were fed to the cats, as carnivores, the cats would have lacked for protein and fat and therefore been even more attracted to lamp oils. sardine oil that could explain cats wanting to lick them. People in the early modern period used cheap fish oils in lamps, e.g. In the Edo period encyclopedia Wakan Sansai Zue, it is said that a cat licking this oil is an omen of an impending strange event. One folk belief about the bakeneko is that they lick lamp oil. However, cats figure in a great number of tales and superstitions because they live with humans yet retain their wild essence and air of mystery. Many other animals appear as yōkai in old tales and display similar attributes: the deep tenacity of snakes, the ability of foxes ( kitsune) to shapeshift into women, and the brutality of bake-danuki in eating humans depicted in the Kachi-kachi Yama folktale from the Edo period. The reason that cats are seen as yōkai in Japanese mythology is attributed to many of their characteristics: for example, the pupils of their eyes change shape depending on the time of day, their fur can seem to cause sparks when they are petted (due to static electricity), they sometimes lick blood, they can walk without making a sound, their wild nature that remains despite the gentleness they can show, they are difficult to control (unlike dogs), their sharp claws and teeth, nocturnal habits, and their speed and agility. There are legends of bakeneko in various parts of Japan, but the tale of the Nabeshima Bakeneko Disturbance in Saga Prefecture is especially famous. The distinction between them is often ambiguous, but the largest difference is that the nekomata has two tails, while the bakeneko has only one. It is often confused with the nekomata, another cat-like yōkai. The bakeneko ( 化け猫, "changed cat") is a type of Japanese yōkai, or supernatural entity more specifically, it is a kaibyō, or supernatural cat. Unlike nekomata which have two tails, this cat has only one tail. It depicts a cat in Nagoya that would wear a napkin on its head and dance. Though the word kami can be translated multiple ways into English, no English word expresses its full meaning.Type of Japanese yōkai The Bakeneko of the Sasakibara Family ( 猫) from the Buson Yōkai Emaki by Yosa Buson. In Japanese the number "eight-million" is normally used to mean infinity. It is usually said that there are "yaoyorozu-no-kami" ( 八百万の神, eight-million Kami). Instead, they have to do with phenomena and events like the growth of trees, or rain, or wind, or other aspects of Nature it is believed that these kami live in those natural things. Not all of Kami are gods of the personified type. Kami (神) is a Japanese word for the spirits that are worshipped in the Shinto religion. Amaterasu, one of the most important kami in the Shinto faith. For other uses, see Kami (disambiguation).
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