# Beckoning cat

招き猫 maneki neko

![Beckoning cat](https://www.furoshiki.com/motifs/maneki-neko.svg)

The cat with a raised paw beckons customers and money; a lucky charm for business prosperity.

Late Edo period, Edo (Tokyo), Imado ware

The oldest known figurines are Imado-ware 'marushime-neko' sold at Sensō-ji in Asakusa; an 1852 record and a Hiroshige print show them. Several temples and shrines tell origin legends: at Gōtoku-ji a cat beckoned the lord Ii Naotaka in out of a storm; at Jishō-in a cat guided Ōta Dōkan; at Imado a poor old woman was told in a dream to make cat figures; and the Yoshiwara courtesan Usugumo's cat saved her from a snake. They spread widely in Meiji.

A raised left paw is said to call customers, a right paw money; shops still put one by the till.

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Source: https://www.furoshiki.com/motifs/maneki-neko/