Library › Guides › Kitsune & Yokai
Nekomata vs Bakeneko: Two Cat Yokai, Told Apart
By Metavulgar · updated 2026-11-13 · 5 min read
Nekomata vs bakeneko comes down to two things people argue about: the tail and the temperament. A bakeneko (化け猫, "changed cat") is a cat that has crossed into the supernatural, usually a house cat that shapeshifts, walks upright or speaks. A nekomata (猫又, "forked cat") is a cat yokai with a split tail, and in the oldest records it is the more dangerous of the two. Japanese folklore never drew a clean border between them, so any guide that gives you a hard rule is simplifying. This page lays out where the stories agree, where they don't, and which one makes the better monster girl.
The quick answer
- Bakeneko: the name means "changed cat". One tail in most pictures, house-bound, mischievous, sometimes vengeful.
- Nekomata: the name means "forked cat" or "cat with a fork". Two tails in most pictures, often wild, mountain-dwelling and predatory in early texts.
- The overlap: old cats become one or the other, and Edo-period books and prints treat the words as near-synonyms.
| Bakeneko | Nekomata | |
|---|---|---|
| Name | "Changed cat" | "Forked cat" |
| Tails | Usually one | Usually two, split |
| Where | Homes, towns, theatres | Mountains in the oldest texts, later houses too |
| Reputation | Trickster, shapeshifter, avenger | Man-eater in early records, later a darker bakeneko |
| How it forms | Cat grows old or large, or is wronged | Cat lives very long and the tail divides |
| Modern monster girl | Playful, shifting, loyal-then-sharp | Elegant, patient, dangerous |
What the old texts say
The nekomata is the older name on paper. The 13th-century diary Meigetsuki by Fujiwara no Teika records a report of nekomata killing people in the Nara region, and the 14th-century essays Tsurezuregusa by Yoshida Kenkō mention nekomata in the mountains that eat people, along with the fear that an old house cat might become one. Those are the two earliest references that most sources cite, and they disagree about which counts as first, so treat "earliest" with care.
The bakeneko comes into focus later, in the Edo period (1603–1868), when printed picture books, kabuki plays and ghost-story collections made cat yokai a popular subject. This is where you find the cat that licks lamp oil, dances in a borrowed towel, speaks in a human voice, or takes the form of its owner's wife or servant. The famous "Nabeshima cat" tale, in which a vengeful cat spirit haunts a feudal household, is a bakeneko story in the revenge mode.
The tail question
Most sources hold that a nekomata has two tails and a bakeneko has one. The folk logic is simple: a cat gets old, its tail grows long and then divides, and at that point it is no longer an animal. In some regions people docked kittens' tails to stop this from ever happening, which is a good example of how the belief shaped daily life.
Scholars and folklorists point out that the rule is loose. Wikipedia's entry on the bakeneko calls the distinction often ambiguous, and illustrated catalogues of yokai show both names with a range of tail counts. If you write a character, the split tail is a useful marker, but it isn't a law.
Temperament: playful versus predatory
The most consistent difference in modern retellings is mood.
Bakeneko: the trickster with a grudge
Bakeneko stories are domestic. The cat lives with you, learns the household, and then steps out of its role. She is the one who changes shape to take your place, who knows what you do at night, who punishes cruelty. The danger is personal and often earned.
Nekomata: the hunter
Nekomata keep the older, wilder edge. They come from the hills, they have a taste for people in the oldest accounts, and they are stronger. When fiction makes a nekomata into a woman, she is usually the elegant, controlled predator, not the prankster.
Which one for a monster girl?
Both are adult yokai in the way fantasy writes them: ancient, grown, long past the age of any ordinary cat. Pick by the fantasy.
- Bakeneko girl: teasing, domestic, shapeshifting. She knows your habits, appears in your home, and her bite is the punishment for the one who forgot to be kind. Good for slow, close-up scenes.
- Nekomata girl: split tail, mountain shrine, quiet menace, and a very deliberate affection once she decides on you. Good for scenes with a chase and a capture. (All consent is fiction here, and the listener stays in charge of the story.)
If you want to see how the same species is handled elsewhere in the library, the catgirl vs neko page covers the modern kemonomimi side, and catgirl vs foxgirl puts the cat next to the other great shapeshifter. For the fox in her shrine, listen to Glow: Kept by the Kitsune in Her Lantern Shrine.
How the two behave in Edo-period stories
The popular image of cat yokai was fixed in the Edo period, when woodblock artists and storytellers competed to invent new monsters. A few motifs recur and are worth knowing if you want a character that feels rooted instead of generic.
- The lamp-oil licker. Cats were drawn to fish-oil lamps, and the story grew that a cat standing on its hind legs to lick the oil was no longer a cat. This is the most common bakeneko image in prints.
- The towel dancer. A cat that dances at night with a hand towel on its head, seen through a screen door by a servant. It is comic more than frightening.
- The speaking cat. A cat that says a sentence in a human voice. It is always a shock, and the household's response is the story.
- The stolen place. The bakeneko takes the form of a person in the house, or of the owner's wife, and the real person is found afterward.
- The mountain predator. The oldest nekomata stories are not about homes at all: a hunter, a priest or a traveller meets something large and cat-shaped in the hills, and the trouble begins at dusk.
You can see the pattern: bakeneko stories live inside the house and are about trust, nekomata stories live outside and are about the wild. Modern monster-girl writing keeps this contrast whether it knows it or not. The domestic cat-woman who curls up on your chest is a bakeneko in spirit. The tall, silent one waiting on the shrine steps is a nekomata.
Cat or fox: the same tradition
Japanese folklore pairs cat and fox constantly: both are shapeshifters, both gain tails with age, both live at the edge between household and wild. The kitsune is the nine-tailed end of that scale. The cat yokai stops at two. That is why people searching for one often land on the other. If you came here from the fox side, kitsune meaning and nine-tailed fox vs kitsune explain where the tails come from.
Using them in audio and roleplay
When I voice a cat-woman I keep the folklore as the spine: the kind of soft that can turn, the habit of watching from a doorway, the quiet. If you are new to this style, begin with Start Here, then try the shapeshifter and slime sessions. Listen in headphones and keep the volume low; sleepy listening is half the point.
Frequently asked questions
Is a nekomata the same as a bakeneko?
Not exactly. A bakeneko is a cat that has turned supernatural, a nekomata is a forked-tail cat yokai. Edo-period storytelling mixed them so much that many modern sources treat nekomata as an older, more dangerous form of bakeneko.
How many tails does a nekomata have?
Usually two, because the tail is said to split as the cat ages. The rule is not strict: the old texts focus on the creature's behaviour, and picture books show different tail counts.
Which is stronger, nekomata or bakeneko?
In folklore the nekomata has the more frightening reputation, including man-eating mountain cats in early records. Bakeneko are more often tricksters and avengers. Strength depends on the story, not a ranking.
Can a bakeneko become a nekomata?
Some retellings say so: a house cat becomes a bakeneko, and with more years the tail splits and it becomes a nekomata. It is a fan-friendly progression rather than an official doctrine.
Are nekomata the same as catgirls?
No. Catgirls (kemonomimi) are a modern manga and game design. Nekomata are a traditional yokai. Fiction often borrows the nekomata as the folklore behind a cat-woman character.
Listen next
Keep reading
- Catgirl vs Neko: What Each Word Means and When to Use It
Catgirl is the English term for a woman with cat features. Neko is simply the Japanese word for cat, used in fandom as a label for catgirl characters. - Catgirl vs Foxgirl: Two Beast-Eared Fantasies Compared
A catgirl is the most common beast-eared character, playful, agile and independent, with mostly modern roots. A foxgirl is rarer and tied to folklore: - Nekomata Names: 80 Names for a Forked-Tail Cat Spirit
Nekomata names suit a Japanese cat yokai whose tail has split in two. Good ones come from Japanese words for night, moon, tail and mist, from yokai lo