The Hour of Meeting Evil Spirits: An Encyclopedia of Mononoke and Magic (Yokai Series Book 2) by Matthew Meyer

Author:Matthew Meyer [Meyer, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Asian Interest
Publisher: Matthew Meyer
Published: 2015-05-31T22:00:00+00:00

Kasha 火車

Translation: fire cart

Habitat: populated areas

Diet: fresh human corpses

Appearance: Kasha are a type of bakeneko, or monster cat. They are bipedal felines as large as or larger than a human. Kasha are often accompanied by hellish flames or lightning. They appear during rain or stormy weather, and most often during the night. Their name sometimes causes them to be confused with other yōkai; kasha translates as “fire cart,” but they do not use vehicles of any kind.

Interactions: Kasha, being bakeneko, often live among humans disguised as ordinary house cats or strays. However, they reveal their true forms during funeral services, when they leap down from rooftops to snatch corpses out of their coffins. Their motivations vary. Kasha are occasionally employed as messengers or servants of hell, in which case they are tasked with collecting the corpses of wicked humans to spirit off to hell for punishment. Other times, they steal corpses for their own uses—either to animate as puppets, or to eat.

It is nearly impossible to retrieve a person’s remains after they have been snatched by a kasha. This makes passing on to the next life difficult. The best defense is to be prepared; temples in areas where kasha prowl have devised unique ways of defending against these monster cats. In Yamagata, clever priests hold two funeral ceremonies for the deceased. The first ceremony is a fake—the casket is filled only with rocks. If a kasha comes for the body it will end up with nothing. The real ceremony takes place afterwards, when the risk of a kasha encounter is lessened. In Ehime Prefecture (old Iyo Province), a head shaving razor may be placed on top of the coffin as a ward against kasha. In Miyazaki (old Hyūga Province), priests chant “kasha ni wa kuwasen (don’t be eaten by a kasha)” two times in front of the funeral procession. In Okayama Prefecture (old Bitchū, Bizen and Mimasaka Provinces), priests play a myōhachi—a type of cymbal used in religious ceremonies—in order to keep kasha away.

Origin: Kasha were once ordinary house cats. Like other animals in Japanese folklore, as cats age their tails grow longer, and they begin to develop magical powers. Some turn into bakeneko. More powerful cats turn into nekomata. Beyond that some turn into kasha. Fear of such demonic cats has long existed in Japan. Since ancient times, folk wisdom tells us, “Don’t let cats near dead bodies,” and, “If a cat jumps over the coffin, the corpse inside the coffin will rise.” Fears such as these have given rise to superstitious traditions such as cutting a cat’s tail short in order to prevent it from learning magic.

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