The conte previous post about my new acquisition: a meneki neko. This article will explain a little of their meaning and history.
fortune's cat
Since ancient times, and by various cultures, the cat has been loved, respected, revered and even feared. In Japan is a cult object, with various meanings and beautiful stories.
The 招き猫 (Maneki Neko) in particular is an amulet for good luck or fortune. A cat is greeting the Japanese way and inviting to enter (the reverse of the western way in which the hand is placed palm up and arm movement is upward.) This cat reminds Tama a famous feline history / mythology Japan.
His name is composed of the kanji 招 (NSAIDs / shoo), き (ki) and 猫 (neko). Maneki is 招く Verve (maneku, greeting / invite) and 猫 (neko) is the word for "cat" in Japanese. The literal name of this beautiful amulet would be "Cat invited to enter."
There are several types of Maneki Neko, each has its own meaning and features that focus on the good fortune to a particular sense.
Paw Paw may have raised left or right either. The leg left position invited to come to the right people and money. Also the length of the leg has its meaning, the more wealth is longer attracts or draws away from most people.
Originally
colors colors it was only decorative, but as time went on and becoming more popular amulet, they appeared new or added meaning to the original.
Tricolor: black and white with brown spots. I used to be the original color, based on the typical cat colacorta Japan. Today he is considered the provider of more fortune.
White: It is the second most popular because it provides purity. Black
: scary evil spirits and demons. It is usually used by women to ward off predators. Red
: Protect owners and eventually is associated with good health.
Orange: Zooms to disease.
Dorado: It supplies plenty, many sometimes associated with money.
Rosa: It's less traditional colors, it is associated with love.
Green: Used by students to do better academically.
motifs usually has various details depending on the representation, these accessories can be necklaces, scarves, bags, bells, and even vests (I saw one with a haori, which makes me think that at this neko was menso male: P). Most holds a
小 判 (koban), a gold oval that was used in the Edo period.
Some people are putting on low denomination coins, this genre that in some versions, you can see sitting neko on a pile of coins.
material traditionally were made of porcelain or ceramic. Nowadays they can find materials such as wood, paper and more common and affordable, plastic (like mine). In very rare cases were made in precious materials like gold or jade.
Tama and Gotoku-ji temple He lived in a temple in 世 田 谷 区 (Setagaya-ku), now a suburb of Tokyo, a cat named Tama, as the river running through the neighborhood. One stormy night Ii Naotaka (daimyo of Hikone) took shelter under a tree in the vicinity of the temple waiting for the rain subsides, some stories have that Tama and this gentleman appeared, attracted by the cat, had left the tree, other (which I prefer) Tama venture that saw him and called him one of his legs moving. As he approached Naotaka lightning struck the tree parted in the middle and burning around him. Naotaka, grateful to Tama, became a benefactor of the temple and the monk donated money to maintain the site and Tama. Also change the name of the temple, giving the of Gotoku-ji.
represents the Maneki Neko Tama calling Naotaka saved him from certain death.
The previous images is a neko painted according to the method sumi-e and four neko colacorta in a reproduction of the floating world .
Sources: wikipedia.org, Fuwa fura, victorian, japonismo.com, and many others who unfortunately do not remember. Today
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