Nekomata: The Montain Beast
Nekomata appear in stories even earlier than in Japan. In the Sui dynasty, the words 猫鬼 and 金花猫 described mysterious cats. In Japanese literature, the nekomata first appeared in the Meigetsuki by Fujiwara no Teika in the early Kamakura period: in the beginning of Tenpuku, August 2, in Nanto (now Nara Prefecture), a nekomata (猫胯) was said to have killed and eaten several people in one night. The nekomata was described as a mountain beast: according to the Meigetsuki, “They have eyes like a cat, and have a large body like a dog.” The essay Tsurezuregusa from the late Kamakura period (circa 1331) asserts, “In the mountain recesses, there are those called nekomata, and people say that they eat humans… (奥山に、猫またといふものありて、人を食ふなると人の言ひけるに……).” However, many people question whether the nekomata really is a cat monster. Since people are said to suffer an illness called “nekomata disease (猫跨病)”, some interpret the nekomata to be a beast that has caught rabies.
Even in the kaidan collections, the “Tonoigusa (宿直草)” and the “Sorori Monogatari (曾呂利物語),” nekomata conceal themselves in mountain recesses; and there are stories that deep in the mountains they shapeshift into humans. In folk religion there are many stories of mountainous nekomata. In later literature, the mountain nekomata tend to be larger. In the “Shin Chomonjū (新著聞集)” nekomata captured in the mountains of Kii Province are as large as a wild boar; in the “Wakun no Shiori (倭訓栞)” of 1775 (Anei 4), their roaring echos throughout the mountain, and they can be seen as big as a lion or leopard. In the “Gūisō (寓意草)” of 1809 (Bunka 6), a nekomata that held a dog in its mouth was described as having a span of 9 shaku and 5 sun (about 2.8 meters)
In Etchū Province (now Toyama Prefecture), in Aizu, at Nekomatayama said to be where nekomata would devour humans (now Fukushima Prefecture), nekomata that shapeshift into humans and deceive people, like Mount Nekomadake, the legends sometimes are named after the name of the associated mountain. Regarding Nekomatayama and altogether disregarding folklore, there are in fact large cats that attack humans
