I woke with the crows and shuffled off to Maccas for breakfast. There’s a story there but it’ll wait, since the important news of today is where I went next: Gotokuji temple.
The temple was about an hour from my hotel on three different trains. I had read the temple has in recent years seen a surge of popularity, but compared to many other sites around Tokyo it’s still relatively unknown to tourists. Which is a shame since it’s a special place if you like cats of the ‘lucky’ type!
The above is the famous Manekineko or ‘beckoning cat’ which is often called (by westerners) the ‘lucky cat’. The statues are said to bring luck (right paw aloft) or customers (left paw, common at store entrances) and are very, very common sights here in Japan. As you no doubt know they’ve even spread throughout Asia, and many incorrectly think they’re of Chinese origin due to how popular they are in China now as well.
There’s a few stories of how they originated, and one of them claims Gotokuji temple was the location of the first Manekineko. Apparently a friendly cat saved an important person from a storm hundreds of years ago and in appreciation the temple built a statue, which looked a bit like this:
The cat is present on some of the carvings on the temple buildings as well, but what makes the shrine truly internet-famous these days is the extraordinary display of cat figurines surrounding a buildings which has a Manekineko enshrined:
There are surely thousands of them, in seven sizes:
They’re all so white and clean, surprising since they’re outdoors and in most places unprotected from the elements. Some have messages written on them and have obviously been left by tourists despite signs saying to take them home to bring luck to your house! Looking closely the names written on many cats seem like typical cat names, so I’m guessing people like to ‘enshrine’ their beloved pets as part of the horde.
I wanted to buy a few figurines for some of you, however due to a surge in popularity the temple shop had a strict limit of one cat per person and only the three smallest sizes were available. They also had a limit of one ‘ema‘ plaque per person. I bought one cat and one plaque.
These plaques have an image on one side, and you write a message or request (to Shinto gods) on the other. They are hung at the temple for a while, then ritually burned to signify the wish being heard by the gods. While Manekineko isn’t strictly divine, I dedicated my request to him:
All seven cats I know are now being watched by the lucky cat himself 🙂
I had arrived early and was able to get good photographs without other people in them, but as I was leaving I saw many others heading toward the shrine from the station. I’m sure they sold out of figurines and ema again today!
The day was young and I had to go through Shinjuku to return so I got off the train and explored my favourite shops and game centers and also had my first – but not last – sushi lunch:
Is it really sushi if I only eat shrimp tempura nigiri?
I felt like a walk (I know, I know…) and decided once I’d seen what I was interested in at Shinjuku to walk to Shibuya! My phone said 58 minutes but I did it in 34 which I’m sure is residual fruit energy from the flight two days ago.
Shibuya was bonkers busy and it was very hot by now so while I didn’t stay too long, you can be assured it was long enough to make a couple of ‘essential’ purchases at Mandarake. Alas, still no Wizardry artbooks.
There was more today – much more actually – and once again I was out and about for probably too long (from 6:30 am to about 5 pm) and felt like I fit about three days activities into one. On the train I overheard an Australian girl about half my age say to her partner “It’s too much. Holidays are supposed to be relaxing.”
She’s correct of course, which is why tomorrow will bring a change of location and a welcome diversion into the ‘restful’ part of this vacation. A new place, new sites and new experiences! I’m looking forward to it 🙂
