Talk:Maneki-neko

It beckons (sort of) like a Portuguese!
To Americans and Europeans it may seem as if the Maneki Neko is waving rather than beckoning. Over here in Portugal we use both forms of beckoning - the "Euro/American" fingers-up is slightly more authoritative, and the "Asian" fingers-down is more familiar and playful. -- Tintazul 10:44, 15 September 2005 (UTC)


 * In the article it is written: "To Americans and Europeans it may seem as if the Maneki Neko is waving rather than beckoning." Can anybody tell a non native speaker the difference between waving and beckoning? --Tubesship (talk) 06:44, 2 January 2009 (UTC)


 * A wave is a greeting or a goodbye. A beckoning gesture means 'Come here'. --Thnidu (talk) 02:33, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

On exchange rate
So if a Maneki Neko's koban is worth 10 million ryō, and a ryō is $1000, the coin is worth roughly $10 Billion. Is there maybe some mistake here?... Odedee 04:17, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Jiseiin cat temple
There should be an article on this. Chris 17:24, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Color/Handedness
What does it mean if a cat is green with it's left paw raised? In other words: the left paw / right paw issue in the leader seems unverifiable and vague, like it belongs somewhere else, and it doesn't have a cited reference either. Anybody can clear that up? --24.199.103.240 22:38, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Japanese bobtail beckoning behavior
I have a Japanese bobtail cat who is always making this gesture (reaching out to me). I wonder if it is something common to the breed? 67.149.150.252 01:51, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

We have a calico cat who often raises her paw... and often swipes at a passing leg with it. My wife asked on a forum whether this is typical of cats (this is our first cat), and two people independently said "Only calicos!" The Maneki neko has calico coloration, so I'd say the answer is "Yes." --Thnidu (talk) 02:39, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

In Japan, most cats wash their faces regardless of their coloration. I am surprised to hear Western cats don't. They say if a cat washes her face, it will rain. My cat makes this gesture when the humidity level is high. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 222.0.142.202 (talk) 00:08, 17 June 2012 (UTC)

I had a red figurine with two tablets and when it got broken open it seemed to have blue veins going throughout that lead into a black ball in the center, is that common for these statues? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.186.225.248 (talk) 15:04, 23 September 2012 (UTC)

I have ordinary cat, taken from the streets, he isn't some kind of breed, simple cat, but he waves to refrigerator. I know cats well, i had cats all my life, lot of cats are waving, it is the way they beg. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.84.1.247 (talk) 09:43, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Meaning of the chinese sentences
I just bought a golden cat, with a choixe of sentences you can stick to the arm for good luck. They are in chinese. I don't understand them. Are these standard phrases ? Should I post the images of the phrases ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.57.182.248 (talk) 10:40, 26 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes, please post them. --89.56.175.237 (talk) 01:50, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

the bells
The article says "small bells were attached for decoration and to keep track of the cat's whereabouts.". Where the bells not to prevent the cat's from hunting? Cat bells are still used for that purpose today. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.61.20.245 (talk) 15:40, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

In the early Edo period, cats were imported pets and very expensive. So the owners attached bells to the cat collars. Now a collar with a bell is less popular but still sold in a store. It is a fun to hear your cat dashing from the far end of the garden to welcome you home. My neighbor's cat had a collar with a small bell but brought me dead mice almost every day. Even the bell was very sensitive, she could move without making any sound when she got serious about hunting. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 222.0.142.202 (talk) 00:43, 17 June 2012 (UTC)

Meowth
Any sources for Meowth aside from him looking like it and it looking like a cat? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.137.207.191 (talk) 13:59, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Lucky Tai Fish
I have seen some of these maneki neko holding a red fish (a carp?). Does anyone know what that symbolises? --Fauzi (talk) 11:02, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

RE: >> Yes, let me quote "Another item that one of these cats may be seen carrying is a hammer, known as the Uchide no Kozuchi (打ち出の小槌), used to represent wealth. This “miracle mallet”, when shaken, is said to bring the person whatever they wish for, in this case, money. In some cases, you may see a maneki neko holding onto a fish, most likely a carp; a daruma (達磨), a Japanese paper maché doll..." - http://www.jappleng.com/articles/view/culture/13/maneki_neko I have found that Jappleng is a VERY credible source so I trust that is entirely correct. --22:08, 14 May 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.61.81.66 (talk)

Maneki Neko real life
The Wired reports a struggling japanese rural railway choose a female cat as its new president and now they have good ridership, as everybody wants to touch her. 82.131.210.162 (talk) 11:44, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

Leu Tempo Festival Poster 2009 (Collector !)
Hi, you can see this cat on the poster (Leu Tempo Festival 2009) here: http://www.lesechoir.com/rubrique/leu_tempo2007.php?id_cat=2&id_ss_cat=20 or http://www.lesechoir.com/boutik/data/photo/427.jpg 90.43.62.247 (talk) 06:39, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

good faith but unencyclopedic, moving to talkpage as still valuable and interesting
[Add/supplement :] 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 traveled 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 tethered their horses, then entered the temple and were welcomed in to its meager 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, apologized 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.

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


 * A synopsis of this story should be included in the folk tales section. Also, I had heard a version of the story explain that a samurai was riding past a temple when he saw the cat beckoning.  He dismounted and led his horse towards the cat, and at that moment, lightning struck the ground where he had stopped.  That was another explanation for the beckoning cat as a symbol of good luck.

TheBaron0530 (talk) 14:11, 17 February 2018 (UTC)theBaron0530

exact meaning of the Japanese characters on the cats
Dear native and non-native speakers of the Japanese language, could you translate the stuff that is written on the cats, e.g. here: ? --Baruch ben Alexander - ☠☢☣ 22:04, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

It means 10 million ryo. Ryo is a currency in the Edo period. Actually, the largest coin was about 10 ryo. "10 million ryo" is a rhetoric to express a large amount of money. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 222.0.142.202 (talk) 00:51, 17 June 2012 (UTC)

Capitalization, plural and hyphenation
Why is “Maneki Neko” capitalized? Is it a proper noun? Is the plural also “Maneki Neko” as the article suggests? — Dan337 (talk) 23:13, 6 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Because some people obsessively capitalize everything they think is important or special. MOS:CAPS specifically deprecates capitalization as a form of emphasis, but people who don't know better keep doing it anyway, just like greengrocers keep writing "Apple's 4 for $1" and "Express aisle, 15 items or less".  I've fixed it in this article.  I have no idea about the plural, nor whether this really should be hyphenated the way it presently is (I suspect not, but I'm no specialist in Japanese-to-English transliteration).  I've rarely seen this hyphenated in the real world. — SMcCandlish  Talk⇒ ɖ⊝כ⊙þ Contrib.  06:42, 30 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Japanese words and phrases do not generally get the plural -s ending. I agree that it is incorrect to capitalize any part of maneki-neko. Hyphenation in Japanese transliteration is generally inconsistent, so I'm willing to leave that alone in this case. Krychek (talk) 20:31, 15 April 2021 (UTC)

History vs. Legends & Stories
One or two paragraphs that seem to be legends/stories are in the History section. Is there any reason why these are in History while the rest are in Legends & Stories? M-1 (talk) 09:24, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

Color meanings
I was told (by a Japanese-American) than the white ones stand for good luck generall, the gold for monetary fortune, and the black for good health. Did not comment on the rare red ones or any other color. Anyone ever seen a reliable source for something like that? — SMcCandlish Talk⇒ ɖ⊝כ⊙þ Contrib.  06:38, 30 December 2012 (UTC)
 * There is no "Japanese-American". You are either Japanese or American, you cannot be both! For details, read US president Theodore Roosevelt's book "America for Americans" 217.250.174.7 (talk) 09:19, 7 January 2017 (UTC)

Color claim Failed Verification
The Color section begins with a claim about the most common colors of maneki-neko, then that such colors are traditional, followed by a source (the Daruma article). Since the source doesn't support either claim, I removed the inline citn and tagged the claims CN. Richigi (talk) 01:11, 18 August 2013 (UTC)

Hello Kitty
Seems to me that Hello Kitty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Kitty) is very much related to this, and should be included in the popular culture section? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.119.246.70 (talk) 19:48, 15 September 2013 (UTC)

Third floor of buildings
To my knowledge it was the number four that is surrounded with superstition in Japan, due to the word for four, shi, being similar to the word for death. Is it supposed to the the fourth floor of buildings? --95.204.173.237 (talk) 03:57, 19 December 2013 (UTC)

Eighteenth Century vs 1800s...
The History section seems very clear that the first evidence of this kind of statue is the late Edo period, and cites several dates for various "firsts", mostly around the 1850s. Immediately next to this is an image from the Brooklyn Museum of Art of a Maneki-neko statue from the 18th century, 150 to 50 years before. This seems inconsistent (although possibly nobody mentioned them for the first 150 years). Should the page mention the inconsistency, or how should that be handled?MichaelCroft (talk) 04:25, 13 November 2016 (UTC)

Translations?
I'm astounded that there are no translations! kencf0618 (talk) 02:16, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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Meowth source is dubious
The article cited for the statement that Meowth is based on a maneki-neko is fan-written, unsourced and speculative. I’ve added a dubious marker to reflect this. 5th Curtis (talk) 09:56, 26 April 2018 (UTC)

Sourcing appearances in Sticker Star and Color Splash
There was an attempt make a few weeks ago by a user more active on the MarioWiki to add in some fairly relevant information on the Paper Mario series, which was rejected on the grounds that it was unsourced. However, is there some way to source those appearances through non-conventional means. I mean, in certain video game articles themselves, certain quotes are used to source parts of plot summaries, so couldn't there be something similar here? ToThAc (talk) 20:09, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Would suggest to ask WikiProject Video games about it. Include a link to the rejected edit. Gryllida (talk) 22:07, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Done. ToThAc (talk) 01:54, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
 * The reverters seem not to have included a link to one of the policy-based reasons why the edits were declined and which explains fairly clearly what you are proposing to do is not the way to go about it.  — jmcgnh (talk) (contribs) 04:57, 3 February 2021 (UTC)