A composite form of the bakeneko that solidified in the late 17th century. An aged cat arrives with thunderstorm or dark clouds, seizing the corpse from a coffin by exploiting lapses during funeral processions or wakes. After Toriyama Sekien’s illustrations, the feline form became standard. Regional lore varies: forked tails, attendant will-o’-wisps, or concealment within black clouds. Its targets are not limited to evildoers. Folk countermeasures include night-long vigil at the wake, placing knives or razors atop the coffin, using prayer beads and sutra recitation, and disruptive funeral tactics.
Character Profile
This section is our own creative profile for storytelling. It is not historical fact or scholarship.
Yokai Type - Traditional Yokai
Category - Ghosts & Spirits
Rarity - Epic
Personality - persistent, cunning, opportunistic
Compatibility - said to be repelled by monks’ chanting, Buddhist prayer beads, apotropaic use of blades
Abilities - summoning thunderstorms and dark cloudsleaping high to snatch coffinssensing the scent of death and the signs of funeralscamouflage within will-o’-wisps and black clouds
Weaknesses - sutra chanting and Buddhist spiritual power, Buddhist prayer beads, apotropaic use of knives and razors, vigilant human watch day and night
Habitat - along funeral routes, graveyards, rooms where wakes are held, settlements in mountain valleys
