What is
Maneki Neko?
"The Cat of Goutoku
Temple"
Around 1650, in the
Setagaya ward of Tokyo,
there was a temple
called Goutoku, which
was very poor.
The monk who took care
of the place, lived
there with his beloved
cat. One day he told it,
"I wish you could
return the favor for my
having taken care of you
so well." A few days
later, the wealthy
samurai
Naotaka Ii, Lord of
Hikone Castle, and his
hunting party ventured
into the temple's
compound.
He told the monk, "We
were walking by when a
cat at the front gate
beckoned us in with its
paw.
May we rest here?" Soon
after that, a fierce
storm came but Ii and
his party were spared
from it.
While waiting for the
storm to pass, the
warrior became impressed
with the monk's
nobleness and the
cat's spiritual
attitude, and decided to
be the temple's patron,
thus rescuing it from
poverty.
Years later, when the
cat had died, the monk
buried it within the
compound. In memorial to
his beloved
lost pet, he constructed
a stone replica of it.
Afterward, rumors spread
throughout the
surrounding
community that prayers
made to the image,
actually came true.
Thus, the traditional
belief of the maneki
neko began.
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