“The importance of maneki-neko lies in its mythologized power to bring good fortune to the caretaker,” says Yoshiko Okuyama, professor of Japanese at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. It’s more than simple pest control though-it’s taking care of the cat that reaps the rewards. ( Cities embrace feral cats to control the growing rodent population.)
After the decline of the silk trade, cats by extension remained as talismans for a business’s prosperity.
#Capital one venture one points free
In 1602, an imperial decree set free all cats in Japan, intending to capitalize on the felines’ natural ability for pest control, especially in the sericulture community. The reason for their prevalence seems to be linked to their real-life analogs. Whatever the precise location of the statue’s origin, one thing is for sure: The cats bring in good fortune. In the same year, pre-eminent printmaker Hiroshige Utagawa illustrated the cats being sold at a market in his acclaimed woodblock print (the oldest known image of the fortune cat). The cat kept his promise, and the ceramic figurines quickly became very popular, saving the old woman from poverty. That night the cat appeared to the lady in a dream and said, “If you make dolls in my image, I will bring you good fortune.”įollowing the feline’s instructions, the old woman made figurines from Imado-yaki ware and went to the shrine to sell them at the gates. In 1852, an old woman living in Imado was so poor she could no longer feed her pet cat and was forced to let it go. Near Asakusa, Tokyo, lore speaks of Imado Shrine’s maru-shime no neko (roughly “good fortune cat”), a variation of the beckoning feline that sits sideways with its head facing forward. ( Here’s a look at lucky charms around the world.) The statues can be purchased at the temple and are usually left behind as an offering, although many take them home as a souvenir. Visitors come to see the array of white cats-commonly shaped as a Japanese bobtail, a breed that makes frequent appearances in local folklore-and pray for luck.
Today the tranquil grounds of Gōtoku-ji are dotted with thousands of beckoning cat statues of varying sizes. Grateful to the cat for saving his life, the ruler made it a patron of the temple where it has been venerated in its very own shrine ever since. According to temple historians, while hunting with falcons, the daimyo (regional ruler) Ii Naotaka was saved from a lightning bolt when the abbot’s pet cat Tama beckoned him into Gōtoku-ji. One legend starts with a cat born at the Gōtoku-ji temple in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo during the Edo period (1603–1868).
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