Koban 【小判】

Pronouns: He/Him, It/Its

Namesake: Koban [小判] is a gold, oval coin from the Edo period feudal Japan. It weighed about 15 grams of gold and its value, at the time, was equivalent to 600kg of rice.

Nekomata [猫又]: A cat yokai with a forked tail. Its said to have originated from a domestic cat that‘s lived long enough to become yokai. With shape-shifting abilities, it often deceives children of man [人の子, pronounciation: hito no ko] by disguising into one of them.

Characteristics:

- Soft-spoken, somewhat archaic and formal speech patterns. Uses “wagahai” [吾輩] to refer to itself.

- Aloof of personality, and very polite. Often lonely.

- Likes having its chin scratched, straw baskets, cleanliness, takoyaki, ochazuke, the smell of rain and grass, shiny objects like coins and marbles.

- Dislikes the cry of cicadas, dogs, tanuki, yokan, natto, the sound of shishi-odoshi, a favor that is not repaid.

- Skills include perfect housekeeping (cleaning, washing, ironing, tidying, babysitting, cooking, sewing, brewing tea), tongue-twisters, massaging, caligraphy. When wandering around, will use its housekeeping skills to repay the children of man who feed it or give it shelter. It leaves at the break of dawn without a trace.

- Original form is that of a cat. Shape-shifts into a child of man at will. 

- As a domestic cat, it had a master whom it loved very much, until he tragically passed away from pneumonia. Consumed by grief, its mortal body eventually perished of sadness and starvation, but its sentiment was so powerful that its spirit lingered as a Nekomata. Upon being granted its new form, it remained at his master's house in order to repay his kindness, protecting and caring for his widow and children, until the kids grew into adults and left to live their lives and the widow died of old age. That's how it gained skills in housekeeping. Even after it was left alone in the abandoned house, it still keeps it tidy.

- Deep inside it longs for human affection, but keeps some distance because it will outlive any human it bonds with.