A Maneki Neko is a a character often seen in traditional Japanese Tattooing, seen in Japanese culture to be a lucky charm and is believed to attract luck and fortune to its owners.
The origin of the Maneki Neko has some debate, but is essentially of Japanese origin and incorporates some imagery from Chinese Folklore. There are two main origin stories; one tells the story of a Geisha who had a beloved cat that wouldn’t stop clawing her kimono, enough that she thought her cat was possessed and swiftly cut off the cats head. The head then went flying into a ceiling fan and dug its teeth into a snake that was waiting to attack the Geisha. The Geisha was unsurprisingly very upset to lose her beloved pet and was gifted a gold cat statue in remembrance to console her. The second origin story talks of a man who was finding shelter from a storm under a tree and saw a cat beckoning him into a temple. After entering the temple the tree was struck by lightning, the cat saved his life! He was so grateful that he became a benefactor of the temple, eventually the cat passed away and they erected a statue in its honour.
The design of your Maneki Neko can symbolise many things. A raised right paw will attract good fortune and money, a raised left paw will bring in more customers (good for business!). A Maneki neko with closed eyes brings you good luck in the near future, open eyes suggests luck with more longevity.
The colour you choose for your Maneki Neko brings luck to a certain area of your life. The traditional Calico is considered the luckiest of all, bringing you wealth and prosperity. Gold signifies wealth, red protects your health, yellow brings you good karma, pink promotes healthy romantic relationships, black will protect you from evil spirits, white symbolises pure happiness and invites a positive future, purple is for beauty and a long life, grey is for security and green will bring you good luck in academia.
Maneki Neko by Horiyama
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