The Origin of Maneki Neko

A cat washing her face,the gesture of Maneki Neko, looks like it is inviting someone. It is actually representing a gesture of a cat washing its face.

Before it starts to rain, many cats wash their faces because they can feel the changing weather pattern. The keen sensory of a cat can detect the minute environmental changes, which make a cat uneasy. This is why a cat washes its face. It is trying to ease its anxiety.

Lots of places around the world have the proverb, "If a cat washes its face, it will rain."

Some people think an old saying from 9th Century China, "If a cat washes its face and ears, it will rain." might have been the origin of Maneki Neko folklore.

Do you think a person will really visit you when a cat washes its face? Since a cat is a sensitive animal, it becomes nervous when it notices a person approaching. When it becomes nervous, a cat sometimes starts wandering around or washing its face.

These behaviours comfort the cat. A cat washes its face to relieve the anxiety toward the approaching visitor. But for a human being, it looks like "If a cat washes its face, a visitor will come."

This concept was combined with the fact that the gesture of a cat washing its face looked like a beckoning gesture. So, the people started a simple belief that if a person placed a figurine of a cat raising its front paw (which represents a beckoning gesture) the customers would come in.