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Reviews of Japan
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The best people to ask about a country you want to visit are people who have actually been there. The reviews below on various parts of Japan reflect the views of such people and as such should be very helpful.
Japan, my second home.
Unusual Cats You Will See in Japan
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Unusual Cats You Will See in Japan
So called Beckoning Cats,-Manaeki Neko- can be found in the shop windows of stores and restaurants in countless streets of Tokyo ,Osaka, Kyoto, and any other of Japan’s major cities.
If you take a peep into the windows
of the noodle shop, eateries of all types and stores, you will sure come across the Maneki-Neko grinning somewhat impudently at you from the counter and inviting you into to savour the produce of the shop.
In business, the Maneki-Neko is believed to bring success because her raised paw beckons in customers. It also welcomes in personal
happiness and harmony. A black Beckoning Cat brings health, while a gold one, which is quite rare, brings in riches. Beckoning Cats are often sold as money boxes. In a house they are supposed to beckon in good friends.
Actually the Japanese beckoning cats are part of a very ancientand revered
tradition and are perceived of as a symbol of good luck and considered to be the incarnation of the Goddess of Mercy. In the land of the rising sun, despite the headlong rush to modernization and industrialization,old superstitions are still tenaciously held onto. Cats, it should be added, are greatly admired for their good manners as well as their very independent nature.
The Maneki-Neko you see in the shop windows are made from a variety of materials: some are in porcelain, others are constructed from papier mache while inflatable plastic is often used to make larger ones. They come in various sizes and colors and are positioned in the windows of thousands of neighborhood shops all over Japan. The right
or left front paw of the beckoning cat is usually raised to symbolise
the Japanese gesture of Beckoning. It is said that if the left paw is raised, the Maneki-Neko will draw customers and bring prosperity to the establishment; if the right paw is raised, money and good fortune will come the way of the shop. Beckoning cats are also trusted to ward off evil: they are used by cocoon breeders to protect the silkworm against rats and they are sometimes tied around a child’s waist to protect them against pained sickness.
There are a lot of legends concerning the Japanese Beckoning cats but there is general agreement that there origins go back at least three or four centuries to the Tokugawa and possibly the Oda
Nobunaga dynasties.
Several stories relate to temples and there was reputed to be a temple so poor the -Goroki-Ji Temple- it only had a single priest and a solitary cat. Times were hard and ultimately, in absolute desparation the priest requested the cat to assist in raising
money for the temple.
The next day, the priest’s cat went away, but a few days later a very wealthy family visited in order to bury their young daughter who had very recently passed away The legend has it that the cat had mysteriously entered the soul of the dying girl and persuaded her to make her last
wish that she be buried at the temple of the cat. Following the burial the cat returned to the priest, the wealthy family became generous patrons of the temple, and the temple, the priest and the cat never
again wanted for anything.
The Goruki-Ji Temple now houses dozens of statues of this cat, and owners of lost or sick cats stick-up prayer boards with the image of the Beckoning Cat in this temple. The temple is not only a haven for pets but even has its own pet cemetery.
The Beckoning Cats of Japan that you will see in Tokyo to this day remain a fascinating Japanese artifact with their roots in ancient Japanese culture and links to that most basic of human desires, the
acquisition of wealth and prosperity. Look out for them if you visit Japan.
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