Gotokuji Temple (Cat Temple)

You know those beckoning cat figurines you see in the window of every Asian restaurant and shop? The ones with one paw raised, supposedly waving in good fortune? This is where they were born. Gotokuji Temple claims to be the birthplace of the maneki-neko, and the origin story is genuinely excellent.

In the sixteen hundreds, the feudal lord Ii Naotaka was caught in a violent thunderstorm while travelling near this temple. He took shelter under a large tree. Then he noticed a cat sitting at the temple gate, raising its paw as if beckoning him inside. Naotaka followed the cat into the temple grounds. Moments later, lightning struck the exact tree he had been standing under. The cat had saved his life. Naotaka became a generous patron of the temple, and the beckoning cat became its symbol.

Today, over a thousand cat figurines crowd the temple grounds. Worshippers buy small white maneki-neko statues, make a wish, and leave them here when the wish comes true. The result is an overwhelming sea of identical cats in every size, packed onto shelves and platforms, all with their right paws raised. Gotokuji exclusively uses the right-paw version — the left-paw and gold versions you see in shops are later commercial variations.

The temple was originally established as Kotoku-in in fourteen eighty. It was renamed when the powerful Ii clan of Hikone Domain took it over in sixteen thirty-three, and the name Gotokuji derives from Lord Naotaka's posthumous Buddhist name. The Washington Post reported in twenty twenty-four that tourists have been overwhelming the temple in recent years, turning what was a quiet neighbourhood shrine into a social media destination. The cats are photogenic. The irony is that Gotokuji has no actual cats. Just a thousand ceramic ones.