THE SECRET HISTORY OF
PHOTOGRAPH: DANNY SMYTHE/ALAMY
LONG BEFORE ANYBODY in Japan had the idea to start a cat café, businesses across the land knew to put up feline statues in order to prosper. With right or left forepaw raised, the maneki-neko (‘beckoning cat’) brings in the punters for slices of sashimi, bottles of saké and boxes of electronic goods. The cat has caught on in Chinese restaurants too.
Maneki-neko figurines seem to have developed late in Japan’s Edo period (1603–1868). They were definitely around by 1852, when the renowned woodblock artist Hiroshige produced a print showing them on sale at a stall in a busy market. Originally made out of ceramic, wood or papier-mâché, maneki-neko today are often plastic, with battery- or solar-powered arms.
Legends about their origin are rife. At the simpler end is the story of a poor shopkeeper who nevertheless fed a hungry cat, and was rewarded when the animal sat out front and drew in curious passers-by. More dramatically, 17th-century samurai lord Ii Naotaka was said to have seen a cat beckoning him at Gotokuji temple in Edo (now Tokyo), gone over to investigate, and turned back to see a lightning strike hit the spot where he had been standing.