“CURSE OF THE CAT CREATURES” Shape-shifting Felines of Japanese Cinema
By August Ragone
have persisted for centuries, across oceans and continents. And while there are variations, specifically, animals taking on human form, no other culture has more deep-rooted folklore than Japan. But unlike the West’s Werewolves and the East’s Weretigers, Japanese myths, forged in the indigenous religion of Shinto (Way of the Gods), feature all manner of supernatural creatures, great and small, which are not only sentient, but also take on human form—not the other way around. One of the most fearsome of these, the Kaibyo (also known as the Bakeneko or Monster Cat) could be looked upon as the Japanese equivalent of our Lycanthropes. And moreso than any other Bakemono or Yokai in the colossal and endless pantheon of supernatural creatures of Japanese folklore, the Kaibyo is one of the most fascinating, and has been the subject of more films than any of our Werewolves—going as far back as 1910’s THE NIGHT CHERRY BLOSSOMS OF SAGA (Saga-no Yozakura). Even at the very start of Japanese Cinema, the supernatural was the subject of the nation’s first narrative film in 1899, MAPLE VIEWING (Momojigari), an adaptation of the famous Noh (and later Kabuki) play by Kanze Nobumitsu (1450-1516). The drama concerns a samurai who comes to view the maple leaves turning at the beginning of fall, and his deadly encounter with a demon disguised as a beautiful princess. MAPLE VIEWING could be categorized into a Japanese genre known as Kaidan (Weird Tales), or loosely translated as Ghost Stories. Much like the American Western, there have been hundreds of Kaidan
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egends and fairytales of shape- shifting beasts such as werewolves
GHOST CAT OF THE OKAZAKI UPHEAVAL (1954) FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND • JAN/FEB 2012
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