In Japanese folklore, a nekomata is a cat-like yōkai with a forked, usually two-pronged tail.
Nekomata legends describe either an old domestic cat transformed by age or a monstrous cat living in the mountains. The creature is associated with uncanny intelligence, shape-shifting, revenge and, in some tales, necromancy. Stories say it may make corpses dance or torment people by imitating the voices of the dead.
The nekomata first appeared in Japanese literature during the Kamakura period. Fujiwara no Teika’s diary, Meigetsuki, records a monstrous nekomata in 1233 that supposedly killed and ate several people. By the Edo period, the belief that household cats could eventually become nekomata was widespread.
A common mix-up is bakeneko. Both are supernatural cats, but a nekomata is characteristically distinguished by its multiple tails, while a bakeneko generally has one. The “forked tail” clue therefore points specifically to nekomata, although folklore descriptions vary.