{"product_id":"beckoning-cat-money-box-manekite","title":"Beckoning Cat Money Box 'Manekite'","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRound-eyed lucky cat with one paw beckoning, holding a gold sign, fortune on the belly\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne paw beckoning, a gold sign in the other. This lucky cat is white glazed ceramic in the round-eyed style, with large black eyes, red-patterned ears, one paw raised high in the beckoning gesture, the other holding a gold plaque with four characters that wish for a thousand customers, and the character for fortune painted on the belly among small flowers, with a red cord collar and a brass bell. It is the shop cat in its purest form: come in, and here is why.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is the round-eyed cat for a counter, and the plaque says what it is for.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe name, Manekite, is the beckoning hand, the raised paw, and the cat is the gesture.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe cat is glazed ceramic, cast hollow, painted and fired, with the collar a real red cord and the bells real brass, and a slot at the back for coins with a stopper underneath, so it is a money box as well as a figure. It sits on a red brocade cushion, as photographed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePut it where a shop puts it: by the door, on the counter, facing the room, with the raised paw towards the people coming in. In a house that is the hall table, the kitchen shelf or the desk. The right paw raised is for money and the left for people; both raised is for both, and most of the cats here are greedy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe plaque is the detail: a gold rectangle held up like a menu with four characters brushed on it, the old shopkeeper's wish for customers to come in their thousands, and the paw above it is raised in the true beckoning pose, palm out, fingers down, which is a wave to a Westerner and a come-here to a Japanese.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe beckoning cat began in Edo, with a temple cat that waved a lord in from a storm, and it has sat at shop doors ever since; the raised paw is the Japanese come-here, palm down, which a Westerner reads as a wave.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDust with a soft cloth; wipe with a damp one if it needs it. It is ceramic and it breaks, so keep it off the edge of the shelf. The cushion can be sponged.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom across a room it is a white cat waving. From close the wave is a beckon, the plaque shows its characters, and the belly its fortune. It is the cat for a shop door and a person who has customers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is 16 by 10 by 13 cm, wider than the fist-sized cats in the collection, and it sits on its cushion at the same scale on the page, so the pages compare.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"YONAKU","offers":[{"title":"16 x 10 x 13 cm","offer_id":59207953580380,"sku":"14:200006153#Fortune","price":85.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1055\/3386\/6332\/files\/beckoning-cat-money-box-manekite-1.jpg?v=1790586042","url":"https:\/\/yonaku.com\/products\/beckoning-cat-money-box-manekite","provider":"YONAKU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}