The Beckoning Cat
I have been planning to take Patrick to Shimokitazawa for cake and coffee one afternoon, as he hasn’t seen it yet, and I think it’s worth a visit.I checked Google quickly to see if we could take an express or not, and somehow accidentally came across a website about Gotokuji Temple.
I wasn’t aware earlier, but apparently the lovely little beconing cat that can be seen in Asian restaurants and businesses all over the world, originated in Setagaya ward in Tokyo, just a few stops down the line from our apartment.
The story goes that a feudal lord had been sheltering from rain under a large pine tree outside a small monastery. As he was waiting for the rain to subside, a cat beckoned to him from the doorway of the monastery with his paw.
Just after the lord entered the building, a bolt of lightning struck the tree he had been sheltering under; his life had been saved by the cat.
The lord then decided to make the monastery the family temple of the Ii family, and built a large new temple building. The story spread among the local towns and soon the cat became a well known lucky charm, attracting many visitors to the temple.
I had always known the cat to be beckoning wealth and money, so I am not sure how and at what point it morphed into a cash-cat from a luck-cat…
Temples and cats are two of my favourite things, so it was nice to see them all in the one place. The weather was dreary and drizzly, but it made the temple all the more enjoyable as it seemed to make everything greener.After wandering about for quite a while trying to find the place, and then taking the tram (Tram in Tokyo!) the wrong way for a stop, we ran out of time for coffee in cake in Shimokitazawa… there is always next time.
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