Have you ever seen a Maneki Neko (招き猫)? A Maneki Neko (招き猫) is a white cat with a beckoning paw. The cat is usually made out of porclein. The Maneki Neko (招き猫) will typically have some kind of bib, a collar and a bell. The collar is red and the bell is attached to the collar. This getup is similar to the getup of cats from wealthy families in the Edo period. Depending on the Maneki Neko (招き猫), sometimes a coin is depicted with the cat. The coin is called a koban (小判). The koban (小判) was a gold coin in Japan’s feudal era. 

The Maneki Neko (招き猫) can be found in restaurants and banks. The beckoning paw is supposed to bring in good luck, especially to the owners of the establishment. The Maneki Neko (招き猫) can also be viewed in the homes of Japanese people. Children have Maneki Neko (招き猫) piggy banks. Basically any place that welcomes prosperity, wealth and good fortune will have a Maneki Neko (招き猫). As to whether the right paw or left paw is raised, and what it means depends upon the person. Some people say that the right paw indicates the bringing in of more customes, but that the left paw is for money only. Others say it’s the reverse.

The origins behind how the Maneki Neko (招き猫) came about are even more strange. Whether this really happened is questionable, but there is a story about how the great Oda Nobunaga (織田 信長) saw the spirit of a cat with a raised paw. He believed that the cat gave him a signal, thereby avoiding a trap ahead. There’s also another story where an old woman sold her cat because she had no money to maintain it. She missed the cat and saw the cat in her dreams. The cat advised her to make a mold of the cat out of clay. She did as the cat instructed and sold the clay cat. Soon other customers were requesting for the same image. She became wealthy from this business.

So the next time you see a cat, don’t fret, it’s supposed to be good luck.