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The legend of the Bakeneko, the fearsome cats of Japan

In Japon , the cat is one of the most revered animals .In Mysterious we learned about the existence of an island basically populated by cats or A Japanese company that adopted 9 cats And increased productivity! The legend of the Bakeneko, the fearsome cats of Japan , began to appear in the literature of that country around 1603 , although it was possibly forged many centuries before.At that time it was decreed that no individual could own a cat and everyone should be freed , letting them roam the streets.The reason was that the rats were endangering the production of rice and silk and the only way to end the plague was to free the feline population.Cats moved in groups, appeared in strange places and unexpectedly and sometimes terrified the population, which He began to weave stories and legends about them.His cold character and the fact that traditionally they will be related to death contributed to reinforce them.

The legend of the Bakeneko

For any cat to become a Bakeneko , several things can happen:

-That the cat turns over 100 years .

-That it reaches weigh a Kan (this measure equals 3'75 kg.).

-That he would have been allowed to keep his long tail (unlike bobtails).

The legend of the Bakeneko, the fearsome cats of Japan

-That he has been seen drinking from an oil lamp (a fairly common thing since the lamps at many times in Japanese history were filled with fish oil).

Cats that became Bakenekos acquired the ability to speak and their tail, which could be divided, gave it power : The more powerful divisions the animal was, it could also walk upright or fly and its most terrifying ability was to take the form of a deceased human being .Sometimes it was Bakeneko himself who devoured his victim to adopt his identity .

The legend of the Bakeneko, the fearsome cats of Japan

One of the first legends about the Bakeneko tells us the story of a man who watched as his elderly mother suddenly changed character and at the same time lost his cat.The mother behaved strangely, rejecting the company and eating alone in her chambers.He spied when he was in his room and saw a cat wrapped in the woman's clothes .I entered the room and the cat vanished.Suspecting that something weird could happen, he made lev plowing the wooden floor and, buried under the tatami, he found the remains of his mother. Bakeneko had murdered her and usurped her identity.

The legend of the Bakeneko, the fearsome cats of Japan

The stories about the Bakeneko are in many cases linked to the existence of prostitutes in the Edo era and the most popular legend about those fearsome cats, involves those women who were sold in their childhood and locked in neighborhoods that were practically impossible to escape.It counts that One night, a client visited a famous prostitute and after the relationship fell asleep.When I wake up I observe the girl eating with hands and teeth remains of rotten fish attached to a fish shave. The shadow cast on the wall was not that of a woman, but that of a feline. Ha I was lying with a Bakeneko and not with a woman..In the Edo period many men brought fish remains to prostitutes to see if they were women or cats, for fear of being eaten by them.

If you like Japanese legends, you may want to read the post:

–The legend of Yuky-Onna, the ice woman, if you see her she runs away or you will die

Images: Wikipedia Japan, Torii Kiyonaga

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