Nekomata are a kind of cat yōkai described in Japanese folklore, classical kaidan, essays, etc. There are two very different types: those that live in the mountains and domestic cats that have grown old and transformed into yōkai. Nekomata are often confused with bakeneko.
"Nekomata (猫また)" from the Hyakkai Zukan by Sawaki Suushi
"Nekomata to Iu Koto (ねこまたといふ事)" from the "Tonoigusa" by Ogita Ansei (1660). A scene of a hunter shooting a nekomata that has shapeshifted into the hunter's mother.
Nekomata (猫また) from Bakemono no e (化物之繪, c. 1700), Harry F. Bruning Collection of Japanese Books and Manuscripts, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.
Nekomata (猫また) from the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Sekien Toriyama
Yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is composed of two kanji characters that both mean "suspicious, doubtful", and while it may be regarded as a loanword from the Chinese term yaoguai, the word yōkai has taken on multiple different meanings particular to a Japanese context.
A yōkai print by Kawanabe Kyōsai
Chōchin-oiwa by Katsushika Hokusai
Kidōmaru by Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Nekomata from the Hyakkai Zukan by Sawaki Suushi
