Maneki Cat : Omekashi Neko

• Right paw raised — the traditional charm for inviting money and good fortune
• Hand-painted polka-dot collar gives this "dressed-up" cat its playful character
• Genuinely made in Japan — while most lucky cats sold today are mass-produced overseas, this one is hand-cast and hand-painted in Seto
• Painted freehand by hand, so no two cats are ever quite alike

"Raise a paw. Invite your fortune in."

Lucky cats have been cherished in Japan for centuries as charms for inviting money and good company. A raised right paw, like this one's, is said to invite wealth; a raised left paw is said to invite people.

Its warm brown-and-white coat gives it a more natural, true-to-life look than the classic solid white or gold cats, dressed up with a hand-painted polka-dot collar — fitting, since its Japanese name, "omekashi neko", means "the all-dressed-up cat."

This lucky cat comes from a small ceramics workshop in Seto, Japan and still family-run today, making zodiac dolls, Hina dolls, maneki-neko and shrine figures entirely by hand.

Seto has been one of Japan's great pottery towns since the Heian period, and for centuries was the only place in the country producing glazed ceramics — which is why "setomono" became the everyday Japanese word for pottery itself. From the late 1800s, Seto's potters turned that same skill toward ceramic dolls and figures, and this cat is still made the same way: cast in a plaster mould, fired, and hand-painted freehand with no sketch to follow.

Ceramic · H9.5 × W7.7 × D5.9 cm 
Made in Seto, Japan