Tag: maneki neko

Culture

Cat Yokai: Japan’s Dancing Monster Cats

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Meredith Hemphill

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Yokai is one of those words that is inevitably lost in translation. It is a combination of the Japanese characters 妖 (yo as in yogurt), meaning “attractive,” “bewitching,” or “calamity,” and 怪 (kai) meaning “mystery” or “wonder” [6]. It has been translated a lot of different ways in English. I popped it into Google Translate and got back “monster,” “devil,” “goblin,” “demon,” and “bogy.” I’ve heard others as well. None of these translations are incorrect, but they are all incomplete. Yokai encompass a wide range of supernatural entities, including ghosts, monsters, demons, deities, and many more. Humans assigned supernatural meaning to cats almost everywhere the two species crossed paths, so it’s hardly surprising that there are cat yokai.

Painting of three people and two dancing cats
Ume no haru gojūsantsugi (梅初春五十三駅) – from Wikimedia Commons

Bakeneko

With age comes wisdom. Magic powers, too, at least if you’re a cat. This is the legend of the bakeneko, meaning “changed cat” [2, 5, 7, 8]. Bakeneko are pet cats that have gained supernatural abilities. They are usually considered evil, but that isn’t always the case [1, 5, 7]. There are actually several ways that normal pet cats can become bakeneko, with reaching a great age being one of the most common. What that age is, exactly, varies by regional folklore [2]. Thirteen years is often the magic number [2, 5, 8].

Cats that grow to weigh at least one kan (8.25 lbs or 3.75 kg) or have a very long tail may also transform into bakeneko [1, 8]. It was also commonly believed that licking up a lot of lamp oil could turn a house cat into a bakeneko [2, 5, 8]. Cheap fish oils, like sardine oil, were used in lamps during the Japanese early modern period, so it was probably not unusual to see a cat drinking lamp oil, but it may have seemed like an unnatural thing for an animal to do [1, 2, 5].

Once a cat becomes a bakeneko, it may look no different than an ordinary cat, or it may begin to grow very large [8]. However, bakeneko are shapeshifters, frequently disguising themselves as humans, including their owners [1, 2, 5, 8]. In its natural, feline shape, a bakeneko is able to walk on its hind legs and speak human languages [1, 2, 5, 8]. They are known to dance, on two legs, sometimes with a towel or napkin on their head [1, 2, 5, 8]. Charming as that sounds, bakeneko can be quite dangerous. They can summon spectral fireballs; eat almost anything, even if it’s poisonous or bigger than they are; and reanimate corpses and manipulate them like puppets for all sorts of nefarious purposes [1, 2, 5, 8]. Bakeneko are generally considered a menace to anyone unfortunate enough to live with one, but they can actually be loyal and helpful companions as well.

Drawing of dancing cat
Bakeneko dancing with napkin on head, from the Buson Yōkai Emaki (蕪村妖怪絵巻) – from Wikimedia Commons

The lucky maneki neko, “beckoning cats,” are a type of beneficent bakeneko [1, 7]. In all the maneki neko legends, the cat does their owner a huge favor, bringing wealth or saving their life. Now many businesses display maneki neko statues to bring good fortune.

There are also stories of bakeneko getting revenge for a wronged owner [1]. Sometimes, bakeneko just want to live their lives. They may transform into a human and then live as a human would, not bothering anybody [1, 5]. In an odd tale from Aji Island and the Oki Islands, a bakeneko turned into a human and wanted to compete in sumo [2]. These yokai are complex creatures.

Nekomata

Nekomata, on the other hand, are evil, plain and simple. Nekomata is often translated as “forked cat,” but it may also mean “again cat,” have something to do with monkeys, or mean something entirely different that has been lost to time [4, 5, 10]. There are several different forms of the word, all sharing the same character for neko, “cat,” but with different characters after [4]. The first written mention of nekomata in Japan was in 1233 [10], so there has been a lot of time for the word to evolve. That first mention came when Fujiwara no Teika recorded in his journal that in August in Nanto, a nekomata killed and ate several people in one night [4, 5, 10]. He described the nekomata as having cat eyes but “a large body like a dog” [5, 10].

In the mountain recesses, there are those called nekomata, and people say that they eat humans…

Tsurezuregusa, Yoshida Kenko, c. 1331

At the time, there was no mention of supernatural powers, and it seems that these early nekomata were simply a feared predator, though whether myth or fact remains unknown [4, 11]. There is speculation that rabies or tigers imported from China may have been the culprit, but there is no way to know for sure [4]. With time, the mountain nekomata legends grew, literally. The size of the creatures increased over centuries of stories [5]. In an 1809 writing, it was said to be more than six feet long (1.8 m) and carrying a dog in its mouth [4, 5, 10, 11].

During the Edo Period (17th – mid-19th century), people began to believe that nekomata weren’t just beasts that haunted the deep mountain hollows, but things that could invade your own home [4, 5, 10, 11]. It came to be accepted that the tails of old cats would split into two, they would gain magic powers, and they would become the malevolent nekomata [4, 5, 9-11].

Nekomata have similar powers as bakeneko, and may even be considered a type of bakeneko or a next stage of the bakeneko, although this is not necesarrily the case. However, the nekomata is much stronger and has a particular desire to cause harm [9-11]. Sometimes they focus on those that wronged them during their former life as ordinary pets [10, 11]. Sometimes nekomata just want to cause death and destruction in general. Not only are their powers greater in strength than a bakeneko, but they are also able to blackmail and even enslave humans [9, 11].

Drawing of cat with two tails on hind legs
Nekomata and two admiring cats, illustrated by Toriyama Sekien – from Wikimedia Commons

Sadly, the fear of bakeneko and nekomata led people to take certain preventative measures when it came to their pets. They docked the tails of their kittens to prevent the transformation [1, 2, 10]. People often decided they would only keep a cat for a certain number of years, and then they would abandon it, lest their pet become a yokai and cause them harm [2, 11]. It was believed that killing a cat brings down a curse that lasts either seven generations or seven lives, so it was preferable to avoid creating bakeneko and nekomata in the first place [1, 4, 10]. Of course, an unknowable number of innocent cats were harmed by these well-intentioned practices.

Breeding of the Japanese Bobtail may have helped. It’s thought that the popularity of the breed might have been due to fear of bakeneko and nekomata, a fear that clearly wasn’t strong enough to stop people from wanting pet cats [1]. Today, there is much less fear. In fact, a bakeneko festival is held in Tokyo each year near Halloween, where people dress up like cats, march in a parade, and dance like bakeneko [7]. Click to learn more about the Kagurazaka Bakeneko Festival.

Works Cited

  1. Bakeneko. (n.d.). Academic. Retrieved October 9, 2020, from https://enacademic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/2775702
  2. Bakeneko. (2020, October 7). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bakeneko&oldid=982382332
  3. Casal, U.A. (1959). The Goblin Fox and Badger and Other Witch Animals of Japan. Folklore Studies, 18, 1-93. doi:10.2307/1177429
  4. Davisson, Z. (2012, April 21). Nekomata: The split-tailed cat. Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai. https://web.archive.org/web/20120708015623/http://hyakumonogatari.com/2012/04/21/nekomata-the-split-tailed-cat/
  5. Davisson, Z. (2021). Kaibyo: The supernatural cats of Japan (2nd ed.). Mercuria Press: Portland, OR.
  6. Mao, Yuki. (2020). All About Yokai. https://sites.temple.edu/yuki/yokai/
  7. Matcha Admin. (2019, October 1). The Kagurazaka Bakeneko Festival: Become a cat and join the parade (C. Mischke, Trans.). Matcha. https://matcha-jp.com/en/6661
  8. Meyer, M. (n.d.). Bakeneko. Yokai.com. http://yokai.com/bakeneko/
  9. Meyer, M. (n.d.). Nekomata. Yokai.com. http://yokai.com/nekomata/
  10. Nekomata. (2020, September 9). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nekomata&oldid=977577652
  11. Nekomata: An evil cat in Japanese folklore. (2017, June 27). Yabai. http://yabai.com/p/2318

Published October 11th, 2020

Updated July 24, 2022

Culture

Maneki Neko: The Meaning of Lucky Cat Statues

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Meredith Hemphill

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Encyclopaedia Felidae now has a Patreon! Go to www.patreon.com/EncyclopaediaFelidae if you want to help support this content!

Gold cat statue
Image by Tania Van den Berghen from Pixabay

If it wasn’t obvious yet, I live in the United States. If you have ever been to a Japanese, Chinese, or Thai restaurant here, you have probably seen a Maneki Neko, usually called a Lucky Cat in the States. I picture a little gold cat statue on a counter, red collar painted around its neck, one paw raised and waving rhythmically forward and back while the other paw grasps a coin. However, Maneki Neko are not just shiny tchotchkes. They have a rich history and folkloric tradition.

The Dawn of Maneki Neko

Maneki Neko, Japanese for “beckoning cat(s),” originated in Japan during the Edo period (17th to mid-19th century) (1, 2, 3). They didn’t begin to appear widely in publications and business until the Meji period (1868-1912), possibly as an indirect consequence of the opening of Japan to the West (1). Before Japan opened, Japanese brothels included good-luck shelves that displayed phallic luck charms (1). The Meji government wanted to modernize Japan and give a positive image to the primarily Christian West, so one of their measures was to outlaw these phallic luck charms (1). When those charms were forced to disappear, they were replaced with Maneki Neko (1). Other businesses began to take up the practice of setting out Maneki Neko as luck charms, and they continue to do so today (1).

The question still remains, who first created the Maneki Neko, and why? It may be impossible to know for certain. Several legends attempt to explain the origins of these adorable good luck charms. In one story, there was once a very poor old woman who lived with her cat in Imado, which is now eastern Tokyo (1, 3). Her poverty forced her to either sell or abandon her cat, depending upon the version of the story (1, 3). But her cat must not have held that against her, because soon thereafter the cat appeared to her in a dream and told her to make a clay statue in its image (1, 3). When she did, people began to ask if they could buy the statue (1). The old woman was lifted from her poverty by making and selling statues of her former pet (1, 3).

Another legend also involves a loyal and beloved pet, but is rather more gruesome. During the Edo period, there was a Tokyo courtesan who had a pet cat that she treasured (1). One day, the cat began clawing at her kimono, preventing the courtesan from taking another step (1, 2, 3). The owner of the brothel believed the cat must be possessed, and cut off the cat’s head with his sword (1, 2, 3). The head flew through the air and struck a snake that was poised to bite the courtesan (1, 2, 3). The cat’s fangs pierced and killed the snake, saving the courtesan (2). As might be expected, the courtesan was distraught at the death of her cat, so one of her customers carved her a statue of the cat to cheer her up (1, 2, 3).

The most popular tale about Maneki Neko, if true, could explain their name and basic design. In the Setagaya District of Tokyo, there is a temple called Gotokuji (4, 5). In the 17th century, it wasn’t much, and it was overseen by a poor monk with barely enough money to feed himself and kind of manage the temple (1, 5). Even so, he had a temple cat he loved so much that he shared what little food he had with it (1, 5). One day, there came up a rain storm, and a man came into the temple for shelter (1-5). He introduced himself as Lord Ii Naotaka of Hikone District, near Kyoto, and explained that he had seen a cat near the temple beckoning him inside (1, 4, 5).

White cat statues
Maneki Neko at Gotokuji – Photo by Alain Pham on Unsplash

In some versions of the story, Naotaka had been sheltering under a tree at first, and after he followed the cat the tree was struck by lightening, so he is grateful to the cat for saving his life (1, 2, 3). In others, he is simply glad to be out of the storm and sees it all as the will of Buddha (5). Whatever his reasons, Naotaka became the temple’s patron and made it prosper (1-5). The temple was renamed Gotokuji in 1697 (1) in honor of Naotaka’s posthumous Buddhist name (4). As for the cat, it remained at the temple for the rest of its days and was buried in the cemetery when it died, with the first Maneki Neko made to honor its memory (1). The cat was deified as Shobyo Kannon, Goddess of Mercy (4, 5).

Gotokuji still stands today as both a Buddhist temple and a tourist attraction. It is absolutely covered with Maneki Neko. The Maneki Neko made and sold there are white, with the right paw raised, wearing a red collar with a gold bell (4, 5). The idea is to buy a Maneki Neko at the temple, say a wish or a prayer over it–or even write one on it–and then leave it at the temple (4). The result is a tremendous number of Maneki Neko covering every available surface in a certain part of the temple. This is a place where I hope to one day take many pictures.

The Design of Maneki Neko

Maneki Neko all share a basic shape, but their color, accessories, and which paw they’re raising all determine exactly what that particular charm means. If the right paw is lifted, the charm attracts money and good fortune (1, 2, 3). If the left paw is up, then it attracts customers or people (1, 2, 3). Occasionally you will see a Maneki Neko with both paws raised, which is said to protect the home or business (2, 3). Higher paws are supposed to extend the reach of the lucky magic and make the charms luckier (1, 3). That’s why Maneki Neko sometimes have an improbably long foreleg.

Assorted maneki neko
Maneki Neko come in many shapes, sizes, and colors – Image by Emanuel Golabiewski from Pixabay

The most common color of Maneki Neko is a mostly-white calico, which is considered the luckiest color (1, 2, 3). I read that this is because calico toms are so incredibly rare (1), but tortoiseshell and calico she-cats are quite common, so does this mean that Maneki Neko are supposed to be toms? There was no further explanation. White Maneki Neko may represent purity, happiness, and positivity (1, 2, 3). Black may ward off evil and/or disease (1, 2, 3). Gold, the color I am most used to seeing in the United States, brings wealth (1, 2, 3). There are many less common colors with more specific purposes as well:

  • Red: combat illness or bring luck in love (1, 2, 3, 5)
  • Pink: luck in love (1, 5)
  • Green: good health or academic success (2, 3, 5)
  • Yellow: good health (3)
  • Purple: prosperity and opportunity (3)

What the cat is wearing or holding can also affect its meaning. Most Maneki Neko wear a red collar with a bell, a throw-back to the Edo period when cats were a very expensive pet exclusive to the wealthy (1). Cat people would put collars made from the red hichirimen flower, strung with small bells, onto their cats so that they could keep track of them (1). Maneki Neko typically hold a gold coin in their free paw to attract wealth (1, 2, 3). However, they may hold something different, or even nothing at all in the case of the Gotokuji cats. Sometimes they hold a little hammer, or money mallet, which is supposed to attract wealth when shaken (2). They might hold a fish, usually a carp, because it is a symbol of abundance and good luck (2). Other symbols of wealth and good luck found in their paws include marbles or gems, gourds, daikon radishes, prayer tablets, and ingots (2).

If you want to check out all the different designs of Maneki Neko with your own eyes and you happen to live in Ohio, USA, not Japan, then you’re in luck! The Lucky Cat Museum is located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Visit their website for hours and location if you would like to pay them a visit.

Works Cited

  1. Schumacher, M. (2011, April). Maneki neko 招き猫 or 招猫: Lucky beckoning cat or inviting cat. Japanese Buddhist Statuary. https://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/maneki-neko.shtml
  2. Tse, H. (2020, January 2) 5 interesting facts about maneki neko cats aka lucky cats. Catster. https://www.catster.com/lifestyle/maneki-neko-fortune-cat-5-interesting-facts
  3. Greg. (2017, February 27). Feline folklore: Decoding the lucky cat. Japan Craft. https://japancraft.co.uk/blog/decoding-the-lucky-cat/
  4. Japan Inside. (n.d.). The “lucky cat” temple: Gotokuji. https://japaninsides.com/the-lucky-cat-temple-gotokuji/
  5. Mellin, J. (2018, July 19). Inside the Tokyo temple where the ‘waving cat’ was born. CNN Travel. https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/maneki-neko-temple-tokyo/index.html

Published September 27th, 2020

Updated October 3rd, 2020