Gold Maneki Neko Cats

This Good Fortune cat, also known as Maneki Neko, is found in many businesses and homes throughout Japan and Hawaii to bring wealth.

What is Maneki Neko? Maneki Neko is a cat figurine. However, it is not just any kind of cat figurine. The one which sits and has it's front paw raised as if it is calling for someone is the only one that can be called a " Maneki neko". It just sits in your house or in your store. But it does bring the luck, the fortune and the customers into your store. It does invite the happiness to your home! It works as a kind of lucky charm ( something like a St. Christopher's charm) in Japan.

Maneki Neko, the Japanese beckoning cat has a history rich in Japanese tradition, but has also become a worldwide icon for "Welcome", and is collected by cat lovers all over the globe. There are cat shaped lucky charms called Maneki-neko in Japan. A Maneki-neko raises one of its front paws and beckons (maneku) by showing the palm of the paw. It is believed that the cats bring fortune and the customers into your store. So you can see them in many Japanese businesses.

An old Japanese tradition, the Maneki Neko has become a popular collector's item all over the globe. Not only is the Maneki Neko a loveable figurine for collection, its story is fascinating. There are many legends of its origin, and superstitions abound about the Beckoning Cat.

One of the more popular legends centers around the Edo period (17th century), when a priest of a temple in the western part of Tokyo chided his pet cat for not contributing to the temple, which was quite dilapidated. One day, soon after, Naotaka Ii who was the lord of Hikone district (western part of Japan near Kyoto) was standing under a tree in front of the temple, seeking protection from rain, when he noticed that a cat was inviting him into the temple. As soon as he left the shelter of the tree to enter the temple, the tree was struck by lightening. Naotaka, of course, grateful to the cat (Tama), adopted the temple for his family, and bestowed his gratitude to the priest by helping the temple prosper. After his death, Tama was buried at Goutokuji's cat cemetery with much respect and honor, and the Maneki Neko tradition began.

Another legend tells of a famous Geisha of the Edo period, named Usugumo, who loved cats and kept her own at her side constantly. It seems one evening her cat insistently pulled at the hem of her robe, and after some period of frustration, she called for help. An admirer rushed to her side and cut off the head of the cat, thinking it to be a goblin cat. The cat's head flew to the ceiling and bit the huge snake that was hovering over Usugumo. Usugumo mourned deeply the cat who had sacrificed its life for her, and in consolation, one of her guests presented her with an image of the hero cat made of aromatic wood. That image, of course, was the Maneki Neko, and its raised paw was trying to alert her to danger.