People of
ancient Japan dreaded, even loathed felines to the point that their
folklore labeled
cats as
cursed animals. The
cat, not
native in origin to
Japan, was
imported by a Japanese
nobleman around Tenth Century BCE. The traits of the
cat were not
well received as they tended to tear down
paper walls and
scratch up wooden posts and furniture.
Legend speaks of the
cat and the
serpent as the two animals that
did not cry when
the Buddha died. Moreover,
cats were known to hunt the
rat, the legendary animal that was sent to gather medicine for
the Buddha. With time, Japanese myth developed even further to grant felines power over
dead spirits.
Japanese sailors, although disliking
cats, brought along
three-colored cats on voyages to protect them from
dead spirits believed to reside in the
whitecaps of ocean waves.
Nekomata: A
cat would become a “
goblin cat” if the
remedy,
a severed tail, was not applied.
Obaké-neko: Mistreated and
old cats could become “ghost cats” by legend.
Maneki-neko: A
figurine with a
raised paw encourages
visitors,
money,
good luck, or
good health,
depending color and which
paw it has raised.
However, a
Thai legend speaks of
cats that saved a
golden goblet belonging to
the Buddha, by hooking their tails around it and not letting go. This accounts for
the kink at the end of the tail of almost all Thai cats. Anther story states that when a
certain princess went to
bathe and gave her
rings to a
cat to guard, it
kinked its tail so they wouldn't fall off.
Source - http://www.muralpages.com/hypnofantasia/mysteries.htm