The (obsolete: ; , , "burning chariot" or ) in Japanese folklore is a yà Âkai said to steal corpses. It is now generally regarded to be a monster in cat-form, though earlier archetypes made them demon-like.
The kasha was originally neither an animal- nor man-like monster, but a fire vehicle (cf. hi no kuruma) assigned the mission of conveying the sinful to Buddhist hell. The kasha as yà Âkai in the early modern period (16th century) was originally conceived of as the demon-like beings: (wardens of hell) or the Raijin thunder god.
But due to conflation with the legends of the devil-cat (nekomata) stealing cadavers, the kasha came to be seen as a cat-like yà Âkai in the late 17th century. The famed yà Âkai artist Toriyama Sekien (1776) illustrated the kasha as cat (cf. ).
The kasha is often said to appear with dark clouds, thunderclaps, or thunderstorms.
In the regional folklore collected during the modern period, the kasha as body snatching yà Âkai that steal corpses from funeral services or cemeteries are ubiquitous all over Japan. Oftentimes, the kasha are recognized as monstrous cats or nekomata, sometimes said to have evolved into such form after living an extraordinarily long life. At other times, the kasha is depicted much like a demon (oni) carrying the damned in a cart to hell.
While some commentators flatly state that the kasha only targets the bodies of those who had accumulated evil deeds in life, this is not necessarily the case, and later conceptions of the kasha as monster do not always target bodies of the villainous.
There kasha also features in the folktale type ("cat patron"), in which case the cat is not evil, but only play-acting to benefit his temple abbot master. There are similar tales in the Harima Province (now Hyà Âgo Prefecture). In Makidani, Yamasaki (now Shisà Â, Hyà Âgo), there is the tale of the "".
Various superstitions prescribe objects used as amulets or chanting to protect the deceased from the attack of the kasha (cf. ).
The folklore about the yà Âkai named kasha ("fire cart") stealing cadavers is widespread over various places across Japan, and the wide dissemination had already occurred by the 18th century.
In typical examples of the regional folk narrative, the kasha assumes a cat-like form, and when the deceased's body is stolen, the weight of the coffin suddenly lightens. Generally the arrival of a kasha is accompanied by black clouds, thunderstorm, or fearsome wind (as had been the case in Edo Period literature, cf. below). 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 âÂÂpossessed by the kashaâÂÂ.
In the traditional funerary customs in Miyazaki Prefecture (from the time when sitting-position burials inside round barrel type coffins were common), instead of observing the usual 1âÂÂ2 day wake before the funeral, a secondary wake was observed after (thus 4 days altogether), and during this tsuya wake period, someone would be left to attend the body around the clock, and close family of either gender would sleep with the body overnight in what was called yotogi This stems from the superstition that the kasha would come steal the body if not on constant watch (customs of Gokase village and Miyake in Saito city). And for this reason, cats were taboo during the wake, and trapped inside cages and forbidden from entering rooms.
Allowing a cat to stride over a body causes it to turn into a monster, or else result in some bad turn of events. Or if a cat leaps over the corpse will stand up, or revive, etc. according to Miyazaki Prefecture folklore, though similar lore is found elsewhere, e.g. Gunma Prefecture where it is said that a monster (kasha) leaping over the body causes the dead to revive, and the approach of cats near the deceased is abhorred.
A variant in Tà Âno, Iwate Prefecture is locally called "", though it assumes the appearance of a human woman. According to the lore, when one takes the path from the village of Ayaori, Kamihei District (now part of Tà Âno) to the village of Miyamori (now also part of Tà Âno), along the mountain pass is a little mountain called where she is prone to appear, looking like a woman wearing kinchaku money-bag tied to her front obi belt. She supposedly stole corpses from coffins at funerals and dug up corpses from gravesites and ate them as well. village (now part of Saku, Nagano Prefecture) is another spot where this yà Âkai is known as "kyasha", and as in the typical case, it was accused of stealing corpses at funerals.
In the Yamagata Prefecture, a story is passed down where when a certain wealthy man died, a () appeared before him and attempted to steal his corpse, but the head priest of (at Hasedà Â, Yamagata city) drove it away. Its alleged tail was then offered to be kept at the Hase-kannon-dà  pavilion (at Nan'yà Â, Yamagata) as a charm against evil spirits, which is open to the public on new years each year.
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.
One method of protecting corpses from kasha, in Kamikuishiki, Nishiyatsushiro District, Yamanashi Prefecture (now Fujikawaguchiko, KÃ Âfu), at a temple that a kasha is said to live near, a funeral is performed twice, and it is said that by putting a rock inside the coffin for the first funeral, this protects the corpse from being stolen by the kasha.
In Yawatahama, Ehime, Ehime prefecture, it is said that leaving a hair razor on top of the coffin would prevent the kasha from stealing the corpse. In Tsumagoi village in Agatsuma District, Gunma, placing a bladed instrument (knife) on the body prevents it from becoming possessed and walking away, and similarly in Kasukawa, Seta District, Gunma a blade is said to ward against the theft of the corpse.
In the custom of Himakajima island, Aichi Prefecture, placing a reed for weaving on the body, and the fine mesh supposedly defended against the , an over a century-old cat, from stealing the body.
In Saigà Â, Higashiusuki District, Miyazaki Prefecture (now Misato), it is said that before a funeral procession, "I will not let baku feed on this" or "I will not let kasha feed on this" is chanted twice.
In the village of Kumagaya, Atetsu District, Okayama Prefecture (now Niimi), it is said that a kasha is avoided by playing a (percussion instrument).
Cf. also the protection methods under .
The transition to distinctly feline-shaped kasha occurred in the late 17th to early 18th century, but in the near-coeval period (early to mid-"modern") tales of the Buddhist-based vehicular kasha chariot, often driven away by high priests, did continue to appear in anthologies. The depiction of kasha changed from the cart vehicle to the anthropomorphic or ogre-like (hell warden), or other ogres such as the Raijin ("thunder god", e.g. ) then to a cat-monster (cf. for details).
The earliest identified work depicting the kasha as cat occurs in the Book 1, tale 15 "Matter of cat turned kasha taking human corpse", which is a story of the neko danka ("cat patron") type. It tells a tale of a certain elder of the Jà Âdo-shà « sect in Kyoto who overhears his 30-year pet cat speaking in human language at night, and the cat reveals itself to be the chief bakeneko of Kyoto. It was also the commander of cats who transform into kasha to steal the bodies when certain people die, and quarreled with the other cats that had decided to target certain noblewoman nun who was due to die the next day, as she was ill-considered and profligate, but the she was also the priest's patroness, and the priest's pet could not bear to betray its master. The pet revealed the cats' secret weakness: the Darum's juzu rosaries which could deliver mortal wounds to the monsters. The priest counseled the cat to attack full force and the priest will do his best to defend. The next day as the priest was performing the last rite, suddenly the clouds overshadowed, bringing thunderous rain, and as lightning was about to strike the coffin, the priest struck with his rosary, that brought back clear weather. The priest's cat returned 3 days later with his eye popped out from the injury, and was nursed but eventually died.
's work , has a section on "The kasha sermon, as well as the matter of cat taking corpse", which tells that when was abbot of , a Zen sect temple in Kà Âzuke Province (now Gunma Prefecture). One day, Shà «gen heard the cats at the temple conspiring to steal the corpse of the village nanushi. The nanushi over many generations had their bodies stolen, and it turns out the nekomata were responsible. When the cats returned to his presence feigning ignorance, the abbot scolded the cats and scattered them. On the day of the funeral procession, the priest chanted his spells and lectured the cats, so that nothing untoward happened that day.
The Kii zà Âdanshà « and Kanwa kii also contains an episode concerning the kasha as the fire cart vehicle (Cf. ). The anecdote below, in various versions, concerns the kasha as a monstrous being.
A supposedd historical event took place in the year Tenshà  2/1574 according to the and reappears in the under the entry entitled "Concerning how in the manor of Ueda, Echigo, at the time of funeral, a lightning cloud comes steals the corpse" It writes that funeral procession was held at Ueda Manor, Echigo (now in Minamiuonuma, Niigata) a kasha made an assault attempting to steal the corpse, and nearly succeeded, but for a priest at temple who manifested his esoteric powers and protected the remains, though fainting in the process. This kasha arrived amidst heavy rain and thunder.
The book's woodcut illustration depicts this kasha much like the raijin (thunder god) looking like an ogre, wearing tiger's pelt loincloth and carrying a set of drums said to cause thunder (cf. image right).
The emphasis of this narrative is to eulogize the deeds of the priest. The physical form of the kasha here is not discernable beyond being a black, dark cloud seeming to attack the dead (and not witnessed as a cat-monster), but since the corpse attacked was clearly not meant to be seen as an evil person, it is pointed out that the tale no longer follows the definition of the kasha as a vehicle meant to carry only the damned, and a scholar regards this as a transition evolving from vehicle to a creature-type yà Âkai. In a later variant telling of the same tale, the identity of the kasha is changed from "dark cloud" to the monster cat nekomataï¼Â
In 's ("Snow stories of North Etsu Province", 1841), the heroic priest in the monster encounter of Tensho era (1574) is claimed to have been Hokkà  (i.e. the historical ) as the 13th abbot at the aforementioned Untà Â-an temple, though this has been pointed out to be anachronistic and implausible. The corpse-snatcher is here the nekomata or twin-tailed cat, as aforementioned (cf. image right). The story tells of a death in the farming village of Saburà Âmaru, , Echigo Province which lay close to the Untà Â-an temple. They were forced to deliver the coffin through a snowstorm which didn't subside after waiting for days. Midway in the trip, a sudden gust came, the dark clouds overshadowed the area, and a ball of fire came flying forth, enveloping the coffin. Within the fire was a twin-tailed huge cat trying to steal the coffin, but the priest Hokko used his incantations, and clubbed the monster on the head with his iron nyoi, driving it away. The blood splatter smeared the priest's kesa cloak. This garment was afterwards called the "" (the kesa vestment of the one who rid/exorcised the kasha), and still remains in the keeping of this temple.
[[File:Inga Hi-no-kuruma.jpg|right|thumb|240px|Woman dragged by two men with torches.