The Lucky Cat
Waves at everyone who passes · Keeper of Asakusa
Legend says a beckoning cat drew a lord in from a storm in old Edo, just before lightning struck where he had stood. Its raised paw now waves in shop windows all over Japan.
The legend
One legend says a lord named Ii Naotaka was caught in a storm in western Edo, today's Tokyo, when a cat at a small gate raised its paw as if beckoning. He stepped inside, and lightning struck where he had stood. Its raised-paw figurines, maneki-neko, now wave in shop windows all over Japan.
“I'd wave back, just in case it's lucky.”
Where it comes from
The maneki-neko has several birth stories, none proven. The temple in the storm legend is Gōtoku-ji, which the lord is said to have made his family temple. Another tale comes from Asakusa. A poor old woman near Imado Shrine had to give up her cat, which came back in a dream and told her its image would bring luck. She made a figure of it in Imado ware, a local pottery, sold it in Asakusa and grew rich.
The earliest firm record is from 1852, when a print by Utagawa Hiroshige showed a kind of beckoning cat on sale at Sensō-ji temple. The gesture is Japanese: a hand held palm down, fingers folding back, means "come here". A raised left paw is said to bring customers, a right paw money. Colours count too: white for luck, black against evil, gold for wealth.
Where to see it
On the edge of Asakusa, Imado Shrine, at 1-5-22 Imado, claims to be the cat's birthplace. It honours the divine couple Izanagi and Izanami, so people pray there for love, and its cat figures come as joined pairs. Across the city, in Setagaya, Gōtoku-ji keeps more than 1,000 cat figures left by worshippers, and the graves of the Ii family stand in its grounds. The temple opens daily from 6am to 5pm.
In the game
The lucky cat starts waving its paw. The cat wobbles, then waves faster. The cat waves one last time and lowers its paw.
Guards a relic: the Edo Koban. An oval gold koban from old Edo, struck where the Bank of Japan stands now, kept by the lucky cat on the avenue. Every flight pays a little more.
