Maneki Neko is a traditional Japanese figure, if you have a Maneki Neko it will give you good luck. Restaurants and shops and companies usually have a Maneki Nekos at the entrance, this way the business will do well.
What is interesting about it, is that Maneki Nekos are usually moving one leg. If the cat figure (Cat – Neko – 猫) is moving the left leg it means that is trying to attract more clients, on the other hand if it is the right leg, it means that is attracting money. There are many types of Maneki Nekos, and you can have fun finding differences between them next time you go to a Japanese restaurant.
Here are some pictures from a restaurant’s entrance at Tokyo. At this restaurant, the space used by the Maneki Nekos was much wider than the space used to show the menu to the clients.
5 replies on “Maneki Neko”
I actually see these quite often here in America. Chinese and Mongolian restaurants, and the area where you can buy chinese food in Bel-Air grocery stores usually have them. There’s a lot of retail where I live…
There are so many of them in America, just go to eBay or google it. I’ve seen a lot of different styles, sizes… very interesting. I like following on-line store most :
http://www.CalicoPot.com
well here in Indonesia, we see it on most restaurant, especially Chinese owned one. Interesting myth, if we think it could attract more goodness than we ever imagine?
I am looking for a wholesaler of the super tiny lucky cats (porcelain) Any help???? Thank you:-)
Very useful info for me as I will be writing a Maneki Neko series at http://www.hubpages.com/profile/pinkytoky. Thanks for sharing info.