Japanese ghost kitty for halloween

[Kayla Woodrunner]

I think it be cool to have a Japanese ghost kitty for Halloween. I have this a great picture in my shop of a Japanese ghost kitty from a scroll done in the 1700s



We could have Japanese ghost kitties in different kimonos. The white kimono ghost is the scariest.

Just a thought.

[Winter Phoenix]

We talking like 'bakeneko's'?

That would be real scary.

According to the wiki, they are sometimes seen

wearing a towel or napkin on the head and dancing!

They sometimes speak in a human-ish voice!

Actually, I had a neighbor who had two siamese that could

pull off human-ish vocalisations.

Spooooooky!

I'd buy a set.

[Kayleigh McMillan]

Oh gosh, I so so love this idea I hope Callie will notice this post because that would be just so precious!
Thank you very much for bringing up this idea Kayla

If this was to be released I might be tempted to become a full blown collector again!
Currently I am an in between collector

[Kayla Woodrunner]

Hi Winter,
I hadn't heard that about bakeneko's dancing with a handkerchief so I went searching for an image. I thought this one was fun.

---

Hi Kayleigh,
the cool thing about bakeneko is that any cat who reached 10 years of age could potentially become a bakeneko and take partly or totally human form. Although if you wave a fish in the face of a human and it makes a quick grab for it, it could be a dead giveaway. Or maybe catnip.

Some bakenekos would be friendly to humans (or at least their owners who had them for the first ten years of their lives). Others would haunt humans or try to destory them. So we could have friendly bakeneko cats in a pretty kimono and scarey bakeneko cats.

I'd be sucker for a pretty kimono on a kittycat. Like you I'm not a full collector (although I made an exception and tried to get most of the romanticats). Mostly I just buy maybe 1 or 2 if a special comes out. I'm not good at sales so I don't buy specials to hold and sell later. I buy them if I like them. So kimonos count me in (especially if one of them had a purple kimono). Speaking of colors: color meaning is different in Japan. A scarlet kimono is a wedding kimono; red being the color for good luck. A white kimono is often associated with ghosts because white is the color of death. I don't know if purple has a special meaning. I'm going to look and see if I can find a bakeneko in a samurai kimono.

[Winter Phoenix]

Photographic evidence of bakeneko head nakkin' dancin'!!

Does this collectable have a head napkin for you as well,

for when the bad bakeneko possesses you?

[Kayla Woodrunner]

lol

No, head napkin for you but you get a free bottle of sake 'cuz I think the bakeneko has been drinking!

[Vrem Vaniva]

I just love the paintings! And the stories! and the lil' Chateau 3-spot no.1's dancing with napkins on their heads! Beautiful idea.
I love that a 10-year-old kitty can become a bakenko ... nice transformation to raise the status of an elderly cat ...

[Ivy Norsk]

This is a totally cute idea and spooky. Love it!

[CatSoleil Bellecoeur]

(07-20-2014 06:54 AM)Vrem Vaniva Wrote:  I just love the paintings! And the stories! and the lil' Chateau 3-spot no.1's dancing with napkins on their heads! Beautiful idea.
I love that a 10-year-old kitty can become a bakenko ... nice transformation to raise the status of an elderly cat ...

LOL! I was just about to comment on that kitty being a Chateau 3-Spot No.1 when I read your comment!

I know that's a retired fur, but... oh, how I would love to have one of these ghost cats in THAT fur!

This has been both an interesting and FUN thread to read! (And inspirational for creative Callie, I hope!)


.

[Kayla Woodrunner]

Vrem, I hadn't realize it but you are right, it does look like Chat 3-spot #1!

---

I was looking around to find a samurai ghost kitty. I haven't found one yet but did find this legend of a kitty getting revenge on a samurai for what he did to his master.



"While there are many, many bakeneko legends in Japan (too many to tell here), the most famous is the Bakeneko Rebellion of Nabeshima.

This story takes place in Hizen province (modern day Saga prefecture) during the rule of Nabshima Mitsushige (1632-1700). Nabeshima employed a man named Ryuzoji Matashichi to serve as his opponent for Go. One day Matashichi fell out of favor with his lord Nabeshima, and Nabeshima had him put to the death. Matashichi’s mother was heartbroken by this, and poured out her sadness to the family cat they kept, then killed herself with a knife.

The cat licked the blood from the mother, and from this transformed into a bakeneko. Every night the cat would sneak into the castle to torment Nabeshima. The curse only ended when Nabeshima’s loyal retainer Komori Hanzaemon battled the cat and won, saving the Nabeshima house.

The story is famous not only as a legend, but also because it coincides with a real succession conflict in the Nabeshima household. It was made into a kabuki play that debuted at the Nakamura-za theater in the 1840s, titled Hana Sagano Nekoma Ishibumi Shi ( ????????; The History of the Stone Monument of the Demon Cat of Sagano). The play was a hit, but the Nabeshima family successfully petitioned to have the production closed. They were too late, however. The cat was out of the bag, and the bakeneko became a popular monster for future kabuki productions."



excerpted from "Bakeneko – The Changing Cat
03 JUN 2012
by Zack Davisson in Magical Animal Stories, Y?kai Stories

http://hyakumonogatari.com/2012/06/03/ba...nging-cat/