I Am a Cat  is a satirical novel written in 19051906 by Natsume Sōseki about Japanese society during the Meiji period (18681912); particularly the uneasy mix of Western culture and Japanese traditions.

Sōseki's title Wagahai wa Neko de Aru uses a very high-register phrasing more appropriate to a nobleman conveying grandiloquence and self-importance. This is somewhat ironic since the speaker an anthropomorphized domestic cat is a regular house cat of a teacher and not of a high-ranking noble as the manner of speech suggests.

The book was first published in ten installments in the literary journal Hototogisu. At first Sōseki intended only to write the short story that constitutes the first chapter of I Am a Cat. However Takahama Kyoshi one of the editors of Hototogisu persuaded Sōseki to serialize the work which evolved stylistically as the installments progressed. Nearly all the chapters can stand alone as discrete works.