My thoughts on the Maneki Neko legend

(Note: This is really just an excuse to talk about TEH CUTENESS of my kitties! :-p)

I think it was when I was fretting over whether my new van would arrive in time for the Gally trip, and gordon_r_d mentioned rubbing his beckoning cat for good luck. A few weeks ago, I finally asked him what that was, and he told me a "Maneki Neko." Being the amatuer folklorist that I am, I Googled for it, and quickly found the legend behind the figurine in several versions, on several websites.

A rich lord in feudal Japan seeks shelter under a tree during a rainstorm, beside a very poor temple. He looks up to see a cat beckoning to him, with his little paw raised in the air. Surprised, the lord stepped out from under the tree to get a closer look, and as soon as did, lightning struck the place where he'd been standing. Grateful for this miracle, the lord made that temple his family temple, and it became one of the richest in all Japan. Since then, that little cat has been seen as the embodiment of the Goddess of Mercy.

All well and good, but on many websites, including this one: What is Maneki Neko?, the opinion is voiced that the cat wasn't really making a beckoning gesture, just washing its face, and that the lord didn't understand what he was seeing.

Give me a break! Cats were common pets then, particularly for the wealthy. That lord wasn't a visitor from Mars or other alien culture; I'm sure he'd seen cats washing their faces many times, and wouldn't have found that action interesting enough for a closer look. To suggest that he was just a superstitious fool who didn't understand what he was looking at is condescending both to him and that little temple cat.

Cats, as you know if you've lived with any, are individuals. Each one has their own quirks an habbits. Each of my two kittles (and now, we're getting to the TEH CUTENESS part of this post) have a habit that is half of that Maneki Neko gesture. Trixie, the thin one, will raise one paw in the air when she is excited to see me (but more like someone looking for a high five than the curling in of the fingers of the Japanese beckoning gesture). Manda, the fat one, will come sit beside me when I'm typing at the computer when she wants a little attention. If she starts getting impatient that I'm not giving her any, she will lift one paw to the hieght of her belly, and make that cat kneading motion in the air.... this does look exactly like the Japanese beckoning gesture (matter of fact, she was doing that very thing as I sat down to write this post).

Since cats are also very good at figuring out what will make us go: AWWWW.... and give them lots of extra scritches and snugglehugs, I find it very easy to believe that that little temple cat learned to combine the two gestures I've seen my cats do... So maybe that little tailless calico was beckoning the lord -- maybe it's true that the cat didn't know the lighning was about to strike... maybe he was just fascinated by the tassles on the lord's robes...

In any case, sometimes you just have to take miracles at face value...