A Bakeneko was a cat with similar shape shifting abilities to the Kitsune (fox spirit).

It would normally resemble an ordinary cat standing on its back legs, with three or more tails (as well as its split-tailed form – see Nekomata), and would sometimes be several times the size of a tiger.

The Bakeneko is also said to take human-like form to achieve its goals. Sometimes this would be done in a malicious way – by eating people and stealing their identities – there are still legends all over Japan that refer to them as good spirits, wishing to help the humans that have cared for them in the past.

Stories exist of cats taking the form of women and girls in order to become wives for lonely male owners, or daughters to childless couples!

How a normal cat is supposed to become a bakeneko varies a bit from story to story. For most, it requires that the cat has had a long life and that it has lived and been fed in the same place for that time, becoming particularly large - but the theories of how long and how large differ greatly.

The bakeneko is often blamed for licking the oil out of andon lamps, and since old-fashioned lamp oil was often made from fish, this doesn't seem at all surprising!

This is an old bakeneko with a tail that has split in two (distinguishable from having two tails, since they join before they reach the body). The literal translation of Neko-mata is "Forked cat". Again, these cats have become quite big – some are said to be about one and a half meters long (not including tail) – and walk upon their back legs.

Cats are often associated with death in Japanese, and this particular spirit may be to blame. Far darker and malevolent than most Bakeneko, the Nekomata is said to have powers of necromancy, and upon raising the dead, will control them with ritual-like dances - gesturing with paw and tail.

The older, and the more badly treated a cat has been before its transformation, the more power the Nekomata is said to have. To gain revenge against those who have wronged it, the spirit may haunt humans with visitations from their dead relatives.

Like bakeneko, some tales state how Nekomata have taken on human appearance – but have usually appeared as older women, behaving badly in public, and bringing gloom and malevolence wherever they travelled.

This was the name of a type of demon with feline form. It would come from the sky and steal the bodies of the dead. It was often feared that a pet cat belonging to someone who had recently died would turn into such a creature.