|
Tale
of the MANEKI NEKO |
 |
( - the beckoning cat
)
Did you ever wonder
why some Japanese (and other Asian) restaurants feature a small
ceramic cat ? - with its paw raised in a kind of salute ?
What does this mean ?
This is the story of the
maneki-neko …
If you travel west from
Tokyo via the Odakyu rail line into Setagaya-ku, you can find
a temple named Gotoku-ji. This Buddhist temple is located near
the station of the same name, a short walk away. And walking behind
the main hall of the temple you can find what looks like a memorial,
a grave, with many offerings about it - and prayer notes offered
for good fortune.
About the gravestone stand many cats - ceramic cats painted in
white or other colours, adorning the site.
For this is the resting place of the maneki-neko : the beckoning cat.
This story began a few
hundred years ago, during the Edo period in Japan - the time when
this country was ruled by the bakufu - a military dictatorship,
headed by its great commander, or shogun - as some
Westerners might better recall.
At this time, the temple
was struggling to survive - donations were inadequate to maintain
its buildings, and there seemed some danger it might collapse
and have to close down. The head priest was vexed, and spoke of
his worries to the several cats he looked after - they were his
companions. How can we find some way to save our temple ? he wondered
aloud to the cats. What ideas do you suggest ? The cats offered
no ideas for him then, and simply continued to wash themselves
again, a normal cat response to questions without easy answers.
Some time later, during
a dark and rainy night a group of samurai travelled by on horseback.
The weather had caught them, and they were seeking some kind of
shelter.
Then, passing a ramshackle temple, their leader stopped: his eye
had caught the sight of a small cat outside the gate, seeming
to signal them. Here we should explain that the gesture used in
Japan to attract attention, or beckon for help for example, is
different to that Westerners are accustomed to - a hand is held
beside the head and the fingers moved in a small flickering wave.
So no doubt the sight of a cat washing one ear might at first
simply appear that way. Amused by this, the visitors dismounted
and tetherered their horses, then entered the temple and were
welcomed in to its meagre shelter by the priest.
By this time a violent
thunderstorm had erupted, and the samurai counted their good luck
at suddenly finding such shelter in this way. The priest served
them tea, apologised for the wretched state of his hospitality,
and then to pass the time while the storm raged he read to them
a sermon. His simple kindness impressed them.
The leader of this group
was Lord Ii Naotake from Hikone,
in central Japan.
He decided then to endorse this temple with funding to assure
its survival, and so it continues today. The story became famous
as a part of folklore, and after the later death of the responsible
cat it was buried in a small grave by the temple's burial area,
even with its own headstone. It became a widely believed symbol
of good luck, with a craft trade in painted ceramic figures of
the cat, many deposited by the gravestone by visitors seeking
to earn some of the fortune associated with the cat's story.
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|
Maneki-neko grave, Gotoku-ji |
And so many restaurants
and other such public businesses have also adopted the figure
of this "beckoning" cat, although relatively few of
them would these days know about the historic and folkloric background
to this figure.
(Story recounted to author
in Tokyo, 1970 - by writer Lewis Bush)
Copyright G.D. Bolton
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