Cats! What comes to your mind when you think about cats? Soft, cute animals that need their personal space. As compared to dogs, cats appear more introverted in nature. Cats make a very good pet and are a symbol of protection and good luck in many traditions. Japan as a country has a deep love for these divine animals. When you visit Japan, you encounter so many cats, cat cafes and even cat shrines as well. For Japan, cats are not just another animal like a dog that you can pet, cats have a much deeper meaning and they are often worshiped as a divine creature. So, in this article let’s explore this culture of cats in Japan in detail.
It is believed that during the Nara period (AD 710-784) or even before that, cats were introduced to Japan from China. With Buddhism, cats also arrived in Japan. It is believed that when Buddhist monk Ganjin returned from China, he brought scriptures and a black cat with himself. He brought the cat to protect the scriptures from rats and mice. After that cats were introduced in Japan and they were only kept by monks, nobles and aristocrats. Monks had cats to protect scriptures. And nobles and aristocracies kept cats as they were some valuable possessions.
During the Edo period as the law changed, even common households could keep cats and that’s how domestication of cats spread significantly.
During the 12th century, the population of cats was enough for people to see cats as something normal and not an exotic animal. Cats are unique in ways that their irises change shape as the day goes on and amount of sunlight reduces, cats don’t make much sounds when walking, cats have nocturnal habits, and so on. These animals seem distant and at the same time so lovable. All these traits about them started to amaze people and with this amazement, the stories about cats being supernatural started to emerge and these stories started to enrich Japanese folklore for generations to come.
The supernatural cats are called “kaibyo” in Japanese language and Japanese folklore is filled with stories about them. Some of the famous ones are:
The not so good side of cat spirit is shown in this cat yokai called Bakeneko. This single tailed Bakeneko is a shapeshifter yokai spirit that can kill humans for revenge or other reasons and shapeshift into that human. One famous tale about this yokai is of Takasu Genbei.
(Trigger Warning: It can be spooky for some)
In this tale a boy observes that his mother’s personality changed completely when his pet cat went missing. Her mother would usually stay alone and no longer meet friends and family. After sometime he discovered that this was not his mother but a giant cat in his mother’s clothing chewing on animal body parts. He finally entered her mother’s room and found her mother’s skeleton and bones with no signs of flesh left.
Now this cat spirit is your beloved domesticated cat spirit. Believed to bring good luck, fortune and love, the statue or figurine of this cat spirit is placed in many households, offices, businesses and as piggy banks.
Maneki-neko are shown smiling with one paw raised in a beckoning position as if attracting all the good things in life.
Similar to Bakeneko, nekomata are also quite feared cat yokai. These are of two different types, one that lives on the mountains and another that was once a domestic cat, but turned into a yokai when it got old. This cat yokai is different from bakeneko as it has more than one tail.
Kasha is a monster cat spirit that is believed to eat fresh corpses of humans. They would try to steal corpses from graves or during the funeral. Once it takes a corpse it becomes almost impossible to get that back. These spirits are also believed to be shapeshifters and they live among humans. They only appear as themselves when stealing a corpse.
So, there were some interesting stories about cat yokai that I shared with you. I hope you are not scared. So, now let’s go back to the lighter section of this article and explore other aspects of cat culture in Japan.
Apart from them being a symbol of luck and prosperity, cats are being loved for so many other reasons. Apart from the main reason that cats are cute, the other reasons include them being quite independent creatures, cats being easy to maintain in limited size modern apartments, not needing to go on a walk a lot, and many more others. Cats make a very good option of a pet in today’s hectic lives.
Cat....Japan....media.... Oh, I know what you mean, “Doraemon”! Japanese media is full of popular characters and shows that are in fact cats. From our beloved show of a cat robot called “Doraemon” to the whole universe of cute characters of “Hello kitty”, we find so much representation of cats in Japanese pop culture.
Cat cafes are cafes that have dozens of cats in it so that customers can enjoy and play with cats while having their coffee and tea. Cat cafes can be found in other countries as well. These are very popular in Japan and Tokyo has almost 60 cute cat cafes for you to enjoy.
Japan celebrates a cat day, also called “Neko no Hi” on 22nd February, each year. As the digit 2 is pronounced as “ni” in Japanese language, the date 22/2 resembles the sound of a cat meowing, which is “nya nya nya( three times nya because there are three 2s in this date)” in Japanese.
Also, from Feb 11 to March 1, Tokyo celebrates a Yushima cat festival where thousands of cat lovers can come and worship at the Yushima Tenjin shrine.
So, this was a fun exploration of cat culture in Japan, you can read more such blog posts on our website Nihongomax