Nekomata
Overview
Like many of Azuma’s animals, when cats live to an old age they begin to develop supernatural powers and transform into yokai. Nekomata come into being more quickly than most animal yokai, either due to living over 13 years or due to licking up particularly large quantities of lamp oil. A telltale sign of a cat becoming a nekomata is its tail growing particularly long, the one sign given before their tails split into two to mark their final transformation. With how relatively simple it is for a cat to become a yokai, it's no wonder that Azuma began a custom of bobbing cats' tails at a young age to prevent their growth - a tactic which may not be that effective, given that nekomata with two bobbed tails have been sighted.
Nekomata usually begin their supernatural lives looking almost identical to an ordinary housecat (albeit with two tails, each tipped with ghostly flames), but one of the first tricks they learn is to walk about on their hind legs. As they age, they learn to manipulate the natural flames they produce, and learn how to shift to a humanoid form with any range of feline and humanoid traits they choose.
by 夜鷹
Like the kitsune or tanuki, a nekomata can fully blend into human society if they wish, and if they can surpress their more feline instincts. It is at this point that nekomata decide how they will live their lives, and a nekomata's demeanor can be as varied as any regular cat's.
Bakeneko
by 摸鱼斋
Most nekomata come from feral cats, and their rough lives lead them to live as bakeneko once they transform. Bakeneko nekomata act without a care in the world, partying and living raucously in small communes or infiltrating human settlements to play tricks. Their control over their ghostly flames becomes a much more refined pyromancy, and their range of transformation broadens to allow them to impersonate others or make themselves appear as bizarre monsters to aid in their pranks. More than a few frightening encounters can be attributed to a bakeneko who thought it would be fun to appear as a human whose face suddenly vanishes, or to approach lonely drunks and scare them with disfigured features. House fires are not uncommon around bakeneko, either; sometimes it's just an accident from brushing their flame-tipped tails on straw mats or paper doors, but other times it is very purposeful.
While bakeneko can be frivolous, it is a mistake to assume they are purposeless. Bakeneko have been known to be gallant yet gruff heroes in some Azumese tales, while others have developed such a contempt for humans that they have learned the arts of necromancy and assailed villages with skeletal abominations and swathes of flame. Such powerful bakeneko tend to take on the shape of fierce tigers that live in the high mountains, solitary and overseeing all.
Maneki Neko
Those nekomata that have lived happy lives among humans may instead become maneki neko, who take on powers of protection and good fortune after a long life of hunting the mice or rats that would have threatened the rice and silkworms their human kin relied on. As orderly and kind as a bakeneko is chaotic and self-willed, maneki neko understand the inner workings and needs of human society, and their earnest desire to protect it manifests in magical powers of safety and guidance. Stories abound of a maneki neko bringing its family great riches, or saving them from an economic or supernatural disaster. Outside of the rare and divine celestial yokai, a maneki neko is the one yokai any human settlement would unquestioningly welcome within its walls; in fact, many shops will have a statue of a maneki neko present if they don't have the real thing, its right paw raised to bring fortune or its left paw raised to attract customers. Black maneki neko are particularly lucky, and talismans of them are used to ward off evil spirits.
by ちゃに
Maneki neko are not exclusively servants, as their time spent among humans and in shops was not spent idly. Most maneki neko have learned some practical tricks of business acumen, whether that involves accurately appraising an item's worth or making customers feel satisifed and welcomed, and as a result they sometimes become business owners themselves. Those that do not have a taste for business might instead choose to wander the land as warriors of protection, defending humanity from malicious yokai with as much fervor as any kitsune or soothing the fury of Azumese spirits.
Kasha
As ferocious as a bakeneko nekomata can be, they still pale in comparison to those nekomata that take on the life of a kasha. Whether through cruel treatment in their natural lives or simply drinking too much lamp oil to transform into a nekomata, kasha have developed dangerous powers of flame and punishment and a strong desire to punish the guilty. While kasha can blend into human society as cleanly as any other nekomata, in their chosen forms they often glow with an internal heat and become wreathed in hellish flames, clearly signifying their unique role. A kasha is also able to manifest its will in the form of a supernatural wooden cart that follows the kasha's every command and can act of its own volition. The wheels of these carts are constantly aflame, and some even have severed monk's heads or scorched corpses strapped to the spokes. The sight of a kasha astride its flaming steed is a terrifying final sight.Unlike a bakeneko, the fear a kasha inspires is not for personal amusement, but for retribution. Whatever their individual reasons, kasha are universally driven to serve punishment to those they perceive as wrongdoers, and those that study necromancy do so to ensure that punishment is served in either life or death. This also gives kasha a unique role in Azuma's afterlives: a soul persists for some time in a body before passing on to reincarnate, and if that soul must be punished and purified for its sins in life before it can pass on, the body must be taken manually to Jigoku. With their speed, power, and sturdy carts, kasha are able to wheel the corpses of sinners to Jigoku more efficiently than most, and many kasha enjoy deep satisfaction from this work. Others resent that punishment must wait until death and prowl crossroads and towns as vigilantees.
by Nomaismar
The most frightening of kasha are those that have no concern with law or morality and only hold a deep, all-consuming contempt for mortal life. These fiendish yokai kidnap the corpses of the recently dead or slaughter the innocent, either puppetting them with necromancy or, even worse, dumping them into Jigoku alongside the truly wicked. By the time the actions of these kasha are noticed, it is far too late to do much for their victims.
