Maneki Uma: Beckoning Horse Pair

• Invite both fortune and good company into your home, one figure for money, one for people

• Own an authentic piece of Japanese craft, hand-cast and hand-painted in Seto, not a mass-produced import
• A one-of-a-kind pair, since every face is painted freehand and never repeated
• A meaningful gift for anyone marking their own zodiac year in 2026, or simply for the year of the horse
• Horses have long been kept as household charms in Japan, believed to protect the family and carry good fortune, since they historically supported people through farming and travel
• Sold as a matched male and female pair in blue, one with its right hand raised and one with its left
• Left unglazed after firing, then hand-painted in matte pigment, so no two figures look quite the same

The horse symbolizes vitality, success, and victory luck in Japanese tradition, drawn from the image of its powerful gallop. White horses were kept at shrines as shinme, sacred messengers of the gods. The shrine votive tablet still used today for wishes, the ema, literally means "picture of a horse," from the practice of offering a horse (later a painted tablet of one) in exchange for a wish.

One figure in this pair raises its right hand, said to invite money, and the other its left, said to invite people, the same convention used for maneki-neko.

As a zodiac figure rather than a New Year decoration, it holds the same meaning whether bought in January or November, the same way collectors building a full twelve-animal set buy pieces year-round.

The figure also isn't tied to the calendar year for most people. Anyone born in a previous horse year (2014, 2002, 1990, 1978, 1966, 1954) reaches their "toshidoshi" (年男・年女) in 2026, the year their birth-zodiac comes back around. This is treated as a milestone year in Japanese tradition, historically linked to special roles in shrine rituals such as setsubun bean-throwing. The Japanese zodiac year doesn't end on December 31st. Tradition marks the turn at Setsubun, in early February, so 2026 is still the Year of the Horse until February.

Seto has served as a major Japanese pottery centre since the Heian period and was historically the sole domestic producer of glazed ceramics, which is why "setomono" became the standard Japanese term for pottery. Since the late 1800s, Seto's artisans have applied their expertise to ceramic dolls and figures using traditional methods: plaster mould casting, firing, and freehand hand-painting.

Material: Ceramic
Size: 8.5 × 6.4 × 5.0 cm (each figure)
Finish: Matte, hand-painted

Care note: The paint is applied after firing rather than glazed in, so keep both pieces dry and handle them gently. 

Origin: Seto, Japan