日本民间故事中“猫”的形象

Study on Cat Image in Japanese Folk Tales

在日本猫与人有关联的民间故事,通过分析可找到三种类型,而产生这三种类型民间故事的原因与家猫的作用、作为食肉野猫的本性和家猫身上残留的野性及"猫又"传说有很大关系。在日本民间故事中,猫还有一个特性,就是常常与女性相关联。

The Japanese folk tales of cats in link with human beings can be divided into three categories. The contributing factors of the three categories are the functions of domestic cats,the characters of wild cats as meat-eaters and the wildness of dometics cats and the tales of nekomata（ cat monsters）. Cats in the Japanese folk tales have another characteristic, that is, they are often connected with women.