Maneki-neko

The figurines are often displayed in shops, restaurants, pachinko parlors, dry cleaners, laundromats, bars, casinos, hotels, nightclubs, and other businesses, generally near the entrance,[1] as well as households.

In addition to statues, maneki-neko can be found in the form of keychains, piggy banks, air fresheners, pots, and numerous other media.

The Japanese beckoning gesture is made by holding up the hand, palm down, and repeatedly folding the fingers down and back, thus the cat's appearance.

Those sources power a simple circuit that regulates a current going through a coil, whose electromagnetic field subsequently "pushes" a magnet mounted to the end of the waving arm.

[8] Antique examples of maneki-neko may be made of carved wood, stone and metal, handmade porcelain or cast iron.

[6] It is a common theory that maneki-neko as figurines originated from Imado ware sold in Asakusa during the Edo period (1603–1868).

Utagawa Hiroshige's ukiyo-e "Joruri-machi Hanka no zu," painted also in 1852, depicts the marushime-neko, a variation of maneki-neko, being sold at Sensō-ji Temple, Tokyo.

In 1876, during the Meiji era, it was mentioned in a newspaper article, and there is evidence that kimono-clad maneki-neko were distributed at a shrine in Osaka during this time.

[11][12] The fourth folklore concerns an oiran (courtesan) named Usugumo in Yoshiwara during the Genroku era of the Edo period.

In gratitude, the cat sat in the front of the store beckoning customers, thus bringing prosperity as a reward to the charitable proprietor.

[6] Superstitions about the maneki-neko include it being able to "beckon...customers into shops" and "bring good fortune and prosperity into households", and it being an embodiment of "fertile, life-enhancing feline energies.

[13][11][12] For the 2015 Trinidad and Tobago general election, won by the then opposition People's National Movement (PNM), a maneki-neko was utilized by the PNM in its campaign advertising days before election day, featuring a maneki-neko waving goodbye to then Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar alongside headlines of scandals linked to her People's Partnership administration taken from the front page of local newspapers.