Pink Good Fortune Cats

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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.

The Charm of Maneki Neko
Japanese merchants are very superstitious. They always keep some kind of lucky charm at the front or back of their stores hoping for lots of customers and thriving business. There are lots of lucky charms in Japan. For example, the Seven Deities of Good Fortune which include Ebisu and Daikoku. Fuku Suke, Dharma, Otafuku, Tanuki are very popular, also. Even a snake can be considered a lucky charm in Japan. Among so many lucky charms, Maneki Neko is the most popular. Every Japanese knows its existence. Why is it so popular? The reason may lie in its lovely character. Men and women, young and old, everyone falls in love with its round face and big eyes;at first sight. This is the reason Maneki Neko appears in lots of corporate advertisements. Many different small products borrow the design of Maneki Neko. At the same time, an Angel Maneki Neko which has a ring on the head and two tiny wings on the back, shows the design of Maneki Neko itself has been changed in various ways in order to fit into the modern Japanese society.

The Origin of Maneki Neko
The gesture of Maneki Neko looks like it is inviting someone. It is actually representing a gesture of a cat washing its face. Before it starts to rain, many cats wash their faces because they can feel the changing weather pattern. The keen sensory of a cat can detect the minute environmental changes, which make a cat uneasy. This is why a cat washes its face. It is trying to ease its anxiety. Lots of places around the world have the proverb, "If a cat washes its face, it will rain."
Some people think an old saying from 9th Century China, "If a cat washes its face and ears, it will rain." might have been the origin of Maneki Neko folklore.
Do you think a person will really visit you when a cat washes its face ? Since a cat is a sensitive animal, it becomes nervous when it notices a person approaching. When it becomes nervous, a cat sometimes starts wandering around or washing its face. These behaviors comfort the cat. A cat washes its face to relieve the anxiety toward the approaching visitor. But for a human being, it looks like " If a cat washes its face, a visitor will come." This concept was combined with the fact that the gesture of a cat washing its face looked like a beckoning gesture. So, the people started a simple belief that if a person placed a figurine of a cat raising its front paw (which represents a beckoning gesture) the customers would come in.