A seated cat with one paw raised, known in Japan as the “beckoning cat”. The earliest picture of it we found is a print by Utagawa Hiroshige from 1852.
Record, Folk and Modern are kept apart, and each one carries its source.
The earliest image of the beckoning cat we found is a print by Utagawa Hiroshige from 1852. Two origin legends are told, one from Imado and one from Gōtokuji temple.
To verify: Title of the 1852 print and a museum record for it
People say a cat raising its left paw beckons customers, and one raising its right paw beckons money.
We tell the cat as a sign of welcome at the door. Who walks through it is not ours to promise.
It opens with the pencil construction, then follows the record, how people used it, and the piece we make today. Every fact in it comes from the sources on this page.
