LEGENDARY BAKENEKO DISTURBANCES OF SAGA DOMAIN

For centuries, there have been dark tales of bakeneko (化け猫) and their hauntings in Japanese folklore, but the most infamous disturbances of these 'DEMON CATS' originate from Saga prefecture on the island of Kyushu. Vengeance taken by a bedeviled feline is at the heart of these legends.

One local lore tells of a young, loyal swordsman in the early Edo period who was unjustly beheaded by the reigning daimyo for defeating the lord in a game of Go. When the head was delivered to his mother as a cruel jest, tears were spilled, and soon after, she ended her own life overtaken by grief. The mother's cat, distraught by the sudden death, lapped at the pool of blood and was soon transformed into a bakeneko. Seeking revenge, it tormented the daimyo night after night. When the bakeneko learned of the daimyo's love for a beautiful geisha, it killed the maiden and took her form. The demon cat, disguised as the seductive geisha, would visit the daimyo by night, drawing his blood while he slept, and imparted a mysterious illness. The bakeneko was eventually defeated, but legend has it that its curse hung over the evil daimyo's clan for generations and generations.