Bakeneko and nekomata in Japanese literary and popular tradition

Record summary

Bakeneko and nekomata are related Japanese cat beings associated with transformation, speech, revenge, dancing, possession, and imitation of humans. Cat-monster narratives appear in illustrated books, kabuki, local legends, and modern horror, with boundaries between the terms changing over time. Zack Davisson’s Kaibyo: The Supernatural Cats of Japan (2017) is a plausible starting point for tracing these motifs. The material matters comparatively because it links domestic animals, household tensions, gendered violence, and fears of deceptive embodiment, but terminology and chronology require close checking.