Maneki-neko

What it is

The figure shows a seated cat, most often a calico Japanese Bobtail. Its raised paw looks like a wave to visitors from outside Japan, but the pose copies a local gesture: the hand goes up with the palm facing down and the fingers fold toward the palm, again and again. Many versions carry a koban, an old oval gold coin, against the chest. Ceramic and plastic are the usual materials now. Older ones may be carved wood, stone, metal, cast iron or hand-made porcelain. The colour carries meaning. White invites general good fortune, black turns away harm, red is kept for health, gold for wealth, pink for love.

Origins and history

Nobody knows exactly when the figure appeared. It is widely held to come from Tokyo, called Edo in earlier centuries, and sometimes from Kyoto instead. A common theory links it to Imado ware, pottery sold at Asakusa. Potters in Imado had clay from the Tenshō years, and later craftsmen arrived from Mikawa Province and expanded the trade. Dolls made there in the Genroku era are thought to have led to the cat. The oldest surviving description is of a type called marushime-neko. An Edo chronicle mentions the figure in 1852, the same year a print by Utagawa Hiroshige showed such cats for sale at Sensō-ji. A newspaper noted them in 1876, and an advertisement from 1902 shows they were already popular.

Tales of the cat

Several Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines are named as the cat's birthplace, and each tells a story. The best known is set at Gōtoku-ji, where a cat at the gate beckoned the lord Ii Naotaka and his party inside during the Kan'ei years. A fierce storm broke, the travellers were unharmed, and the temple gained a powerful patron. Another tale follows Ōta Dōkan, who fought the Toshima clan at Ekodahara and Numabukuro, was outnumbered and lost his way. A cat called him into Jishōin Temple, where he turned the fighting around. He gave the temple a carving in thanks. A third tale tells of an old woman by Imado Shrine who sold a clay cat, and a fourth of a courtesan whose pet cat saved her from a snake.

In shops and homes

Small businesses put the cat by the entrance: restaurants, bars, cleaners, laundries, hotels, pachinko parlours, casinos, nightclubs. Families also keep one indoors. Which paw goes up is read differently depending on period and region. A raised left paw is meant to draw customers, so it suits a shop. A raised right paw is meant to draw money, so it suits a house. Some figures move their arm, driven by a small motor, a battery or a solar cell. People say the cat calls buyers through the door and carries fortune and prosperity into a household. One account describes it as a vessel for fertile, life-giving cat energy.

Today and change

Because the charm is common among Chinese communities, and in the Chinatowns of the United States, many people take it for a Chinese object and call it a Chinese lucky cat, or jīnmāo, meaning golden cat. In China itself it is known as zhāocáimāo. Cat charms turn up far beyond shop counters: keyrings, money boxes, air fresheners, plant pots, and a great deal of merchandise. Hikone City adopted Hikonyan, a mascot drawn from the Ii Naotaka tale. Japanese and international media borrow the figure, among them the Pokémon Meowth, Turbo Granny in Dandadan, and a Joker card in the game Balatro.

How Maneki-neko is kept

A shopkeeper buys the figure or receives it as a gift, then sets it near the door, facing outward so that it greets each person who comes in. Households place one on a shelf or by an entrance. Owners choose a side for the raised paw: left for trade, right for the home. Some models have an arm that moves, worked by a motor, a battery or a solar panel. No words or prayers are required. The cat simply stands, and visitors often stop to photograph it.

When and where

There is no set date. The figure stays out all year, at a shop door or indoors at home. Only its history is dated: the Edo period, the 1852 chronicle entry, the 1876 newspaper mention and the 1902 advertisement that shows it had become popular.

Japan is its home, and it is strongest in Tokyo, where the Asakusa potters worked, with Kyoto and Osaka also named in its story. It also appears widely in China, where it is called zhāocáimāo, and among Chinese communities elsewhere, including American Chinatowns.

What Maneki-neko means

People read the cat as an invitation: customers through a shop door, money into a till, luck into a household. The raised paw carries that meaning. Each colour says something too: white for general fortune, black against harm, red for health, gold for wealth and pink for love, a scheme that Feng Shui ideas helped to shape. A folktale tells of a shopkeeper who fed a hungry stray and was repaid when the cat sat outside and drew customers in. Some describe the figure as a holder of fertile, life-giving cat energy.

Questions people ask about Maneki-neko

See also

Friday the 13thA Western folk superstition regarding the unluckiness of a Friday falling on the 13th.Jack-o'-lanternA carved pumpkin lantern lit with a candle to brighten and protect Halloween nightsMoon rabbitA hare seen in the Moon's dark patches, pounding rice cakes or the elixir of lifeDaruma dollA round Japanese wishing doll: fill one eye to set a goal, the other to mark it done.

Good reading and sources

• Maneki-neko on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.