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Development of the term and concept of “Kasha”
Kasha literally means “burning cart” or “fiery chariot”. During Japan’s middle ages and early modern era, Kasha were depicted as a fiery chariot who took the dead away to hell, and were depicted as such in Buddhist writings, such as rokudo-e. Kasha also appeared in Buddhist paintings of the era, notably jigoku-zōshi (Buddhist ‘hellscapes’, paintings depicting the horrors of hell), where they were depicted as flaming carts pulled by demons or oni. The tale of the kasha was used by the Buddhist leadership to persuade the populace to avoid sin.

It was said that during the funeral procession of a sinful man, the kasha would come for the body. When kasha arrived, they were accompanied by black clouds and a fearsome wind. These great winds would be strong enough to lift the coffin into the sky, out of the hands of those bearing it on their shoulders. When this occurred, the pallbearers would explain it as the body having been “possessed by the kasha”

The legends state that if a monk is present in the funeral procession, then the body could be reclaimed by the monk throwing a rosary at the coffin, saying a prayer, or signing their seal onto the coffin. The remedy for a kasha corpse abduction varies by region and source. However, if no monk was present or no rosary thrown, then the coffin and body lying therein were taken away to hell. Alternatively, the body would be disrespected by the kasha by being savagely torn into pieces and hung on adjacent tree limbs or rocks.

Over time, the image of the kasha evolved from a chariot of fire to a corpse-stealing cat demon that appeared at funerals. It is not clear how or when the flaming cart demon and bakeneko were confounded, but in many cases, kasha are depicted as cat demons, often wreathed in flame. This has led to the modern-day conception of the kasha as one variety of bakeneko, or ‘monster cats’.

There is some considerable discussion on the origin of the feline appearance of the modern kasha. Some believe that the kasha was given a feline appearance when the previous conception of the kasha was given the attributes of another corpse-robbing yokai, the Chinese mouryou. Another popular viewpoint is that kasha were given the cat-like appearance after it was noted that in rare cases, cats will consume their deceased owners. This is a rather unusual occurrence, but there are recorded modern cases of this.

Yoda, Hiroko; Alt, Matt. Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yōkai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2016. ISBN: 9780486800356.

Resources:

Mizuki Shigeru's Nihon yokai taizen encyclopedia