Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternative names: Arima Monster Cat
Category: Cat
The Myth
The Arima Bake-neko is one of Japan’s most famous monster cat legends. The story takes place at the Edo residence of the Arima clan during the rule of Lord Arima Yoriyuki.
During a banquet, a wild dog burst into the palace while chasing a kitten. As the dog lunged toward the lord, a lady-in-waiting named Otaki struck it dead with an iron ladle, saving his life. When the lord offered her a reward, she asked only that the frightened kitten be spared. Impressed by her courage and kindness, the lord took her as his concubine.
Otaki’s rise provoked the jealousy of the other women in the household, especially the head lady-in-waiting, Iwanami, who relentlessly tormented her. Unable to endure the abuse any longer, Otaki took her own life.
The kitten she had rescued, now named Tama, licked Otaki’s spilled blood and transformed into a monstrous cat. Seeking revenge, it burst into the palace and killed Iwanami by tearing out her throat. Afterward, the women responsible for tormenting Otaki died one after another under mysterious circumstances.
The monster’s vengeance grew ever more savage. It murdered the pregnant concubine Otoyo, ripping open her body and killing both her unborn child and her maid. It even attacked Lord Yoriyuki himself while he walked in the garden, but the guard Yamamura Tenzen struck the creature between the eyes with his sword, forcing it to flee.
When Tenzen returned home, he discovered that his elderly mother bore the same wound. He realized the monster cat had already killed and devoured her, assuming her appearance to hide among the living.
Joining forces with the former sumo wrestler Onogawa Kisaburō, Tenzen hunted the creature to the Arima residence’s great fire watchtower, where it had made its lair. There the monster revealed its true form, but together the two men defeated and killed it, finally ending the cat’s bloody revenge.
Sources
Takahashi, Toshihiro. “有馬の化け猫 (Arima-ba-neko).” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). February 11, 2018. Accessed July 27, 2026. https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1069687960.html.