5 Interesting Facts About Maneki Neko Cats AKA Lucky Cats
If you’ve ever visited a Chinese or Japanese restaurant, Asian supermarket, or any Chinatown shop for that matter, you’ve probably noticed a little cat figurine perched quietly by the cash register. This Fortune Cat, or Maneki Neko, is a lucky cat charm that’s very popular in Japanese and Chinese cultures. The Maneki Neko is a talisman that is believed to attract good luck and fortune for its owners. Thus, it’s very common to find a Maneki Neko on display in stores, restaurants and other businesses.
Aside from finding it really cute, I never knew the meaning behind the “Fortune Cat” other than it was supposed to be lucky. Being a curious cat, I decided to delve further and uncovered five interesting facts about the cheeky little Maneki Neko.
1. What Maneki Neko Means 
A Maneki Neko is also known as a Lucky Cat or Fortune Cat. Photography by Danny Smythe / Shutterstock.
Fortune Cat is known as Maneki Neko in Japanese, which means “beckoning cat.” The cat has its paw raised as if it’s waving in good fortune for its owners. Other common monikers include Lucky Cat, Money Cat, Waving Cat and Welcoming Cat.
2. The Legends Behind the Maneki Neko
No one can quite agree as to how the first Maneki Neko came to be. However, most will agree that Lucky Cats first appeared during the Edo period in Japan (17th century to mid-19th century).
There are a couple of popular legends about the origins of the Maneki Neko. The first tells of a wealthy man who took shelter from a rainstorm under a tree next to a temple. He noticed a cat that seemed to be beckoning to him, so he followed it inside the temple. Shortly thereafter, lightning struck the tree he had been standing under. Because the cat had saved his life, the man was so grateful, he became a benefactor of the temple and brought it much prosperity. When he passed away, a statue of the cat was made in his honor.
Another common legend surrounding the Maneki Neko is a really peculiar one. A geisha had a pet cat that she adored. One day, it was tugging at her kimono and the owner of the brothel thought the cat was possessed, so he sliced off its head with a sword. (Yeah, gruesome! No cats were harmed in the writing of this article.) The flying cat head landed on a snake about to strike and the fangs killed the snake and saved the woman. The geisha was so distraught by the loss of her cat that one of her customers made a statue of the cat to cheer her up.
3. The Significance of the Raised Maneki Neko Paw
There’s actually a meaning behind which paw the Maneki Neko cat is holding up. If it’s the left paw, this is supposed to attract customers. If the right paw is raised, this invites good fortune and money.
They both sound pretty good to me, which is why sometimes you can find a Fortune Cat with both of its paws in the air. Two paws up can also represent protection.
4. The Symbolism Behind the Maneki Neko Colors 
Different types of Maneki Neko, or Lucky Cats, beckon for different things. Photography by Olaf Speier / Shutterstock.
While you’ll most commonly see a white Maneki Neko with orange and black spots, there are quite a few color variations of the Maneki Neko and they each have a special meaning.
Maneki Neko is a finely dressed cat usually adorned with a bib, collar and bell. In the Edo period, it was common for wealthy people to dress their pet cats this way; a bell was tied to the collar so that owners could keep track of their cats’ whereabouts.
Fortune Cat figurines often holding other things in their paws. These include:
Lucky Cats can also be found holding gourds, prayer tablets, daikon radishes and ingots. These items also represent wealth and good luck.
Regardless of the name, legend, raised paw, color or item in its paw, you basically can’t go wrong with a Maneki Neko perched by your side.
Tell us: Do you have any Maneki Neko in your home or place of business?
Thumbnail: Photography by Olaf Speier / Shutterstock.
This piece was originally published in 2012.
About the author
Holly Tse is a Green Cat Expert. She is the author of Make Your Own Cat Toys: Saving the Planet One Cat Toy at a Time and the creator of GreenLittleCat.com, the longest-running blog dedicated exclusively to greener living ideas for cats and cat lovers. Her book, blog, and articles have been featured on Oregon Live, The Daily Cat, AdoptaPet.com and Catster.com, as well as in magazines such as All You and Feline Wellness. Holly is a lifelong environmentalist who draws her inspiration from her cat, Furball, who has been living an eco-friendly lifestyle since he was adopted as a kitten. Holly’s mission is to green the planet one cat at a time by offering simple and fun advice for cat lovers all over the world.
Read more about lucky cats on Catster.com:Did you know? Interesting facts about Tuscaloosa
Byler Road, the oldest public road in Alabama still in use today, was constructed in the 1820s to connect Courtland near the Tennessee River in the north to Tuscaloosa in the south. The road enabled development in Tuscaloosa and this part of the state, eventually being used by Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War.
Tuscaloosa was designated the state capital in 1825 and the State Capitol building, which was on the site of the city’s modern-day Capitol Park, was designed by Williams Nichols, an English-born architect who also designed the campus of the University of Alabama. Legislators first used the building in 1829 and when the capital was moved to Montgomery in 1847 the building was deeded to UA. In 1857, the UA board of trustees leased the building for 99 years to the newly formed Baptist-affiliated Alabama Central Female College, and a brick four-story dorm was constructed west of the building. In 1923, it was destroyed by fire. The land was cleared for use as a park in the 1930s, where the ruins of the Capitol remain.
Census takers record 1,949 residents in Tuscaloosa in 1840.
The oaks that would earn Tuscaloosa its Oak City and Druid City nicknames were planted in the residential areas around the University of Alabama campus and downtown during the 1840s. After World War I, 45 oak trees were planted along the corridor of University Boulevard that runs through the UA campus to honor the men who were killed or who died overseas.
The Tuskaloosa Paper Company on River Hill was one of only two 19th century Alabama paper mills. Cotton rags were used to make fine quality paper, but the company went out of business after a few years, likely due to difficulty of transporting paper. The building was used to house Union prisoners during the Civil War.
Northport was known as North Tuskaloosa from 1837 to the early 1840s, due to the then-capital’s growth and wealth. But it was incorporated as Northport, from being the port to the north, in 1852.
A handsome antebellum home, the Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion was built by Robert Jemison Jr., plantation owner. Jemison and his family moved into the 26-room Italianate mansion on Greensboro Avenue when it was completed in 1862. The house featured some of the earliest modern plumbing in the state, with running water with hot and cold taps, flush toilets, pipes that carried gas to the gasoliers used to illuminate the home and a kitchen stove. It cost $39,000 to build – more than $1.2 million in 2019 dollars. Contrary to local lore, there are no hidden slave-escape tunnels running from the mansion to the Black Warrior River. The home was sold to J.P. and Nell Burchfield in 1945, who completed the first major restoration. It was converted to the Friedman Public Library from 1955 until it was relocated in 1979. The offices of Horizon and later Antique Monthly operated from the house until it was acquired by the Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion Foundation in 1991. Today, it’s operated as a historic home and event location and is listed on the Alabama Register of Historic Places.
An early nickname for Tuscaloosa was the Queen City, derived from the Alabama Great Southern railroad that finally extended into Tuskaloosa in 1871. At one time the route running through was known as the Queen and Crescent City route, running from Cincinnati to New Orleans. Queen City Avenue now runs at Jack Warner Parkway, winding uphill behind the Tuscaloosa Public Library and crossing University Boulevard through the eastern edge of downtown and residential blocks before reaching the southern end at the Greensboro Avenue train station.
The Castle Hill development company, chartered in 1887, built the six-acre Lake Loraine Park near what's now Manderson Landing. The damned creek was surrounded by a skating rink, dance floor, croquet court and a rustic bridge the newspaper said was designed to "furnish quiet retreats for spoony couples."
The first 10 street lights in the city were first powered by electricity in 1890.
The first automobile, a Locomobile, is brought to town by D.L. Rosenau in 1900
1900: Census records 5,094 residents
The Rosenau Hosiery Mill opened in Tuscaloosa on March 1, 1901, employing 200 men and women. The hosiery mill was the only factory in Tuscaloosa that employed women. Children as young as 10 could be employed, but a company rule said they had to attend school at least three months each school year until they turned 12. After child labor laws were passed, supervisors would have child workers hide in sock bins until inspectors cleared the buildling, which burned in 1924.
Booker T. Washington visited Tuscaloosa on Feb. 10, 1910, addressing a standing-room only crowd of more than 1,500 people at what was described as the "first mass gathering of black Tuscaloosa residents."
Woolworth’s opened in downtown Tuscaloosa in 1917.
Lake Stallworth is built on the current Tuscaloosa Amphitheater site by damming four acres of marshland in 1918. The warm spring waters included sliding boards, spring boards, diving towers, floating rafts, boats, a merry-go-round and miniature zoo.
In the 1930 movie "Animal Crackers," Groucho Marx joked "While shooting elephants in Africa, I found the tusks very difficult to remove. But in Alabama, the Tuscaloosa."
In 1929, Robert Van de Graaff, at age 28, developed a generator capable of producing 80,000 volts from ordinary current. Within four years, his generator could create 4 million volts, and modern Van de Graaf Generators, more than 25 million volts. This tool made atomic research possible and led to his nomination for a Nobel Prize. He did not win, but a crater on the moon is named for him.
After a parade including Disney characters and the Million Dollar Band, the Bama Theatre's very first audience enjoyed a screening of "Bringing Up Baby" starring Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn on April 12, 1938. The air conditioned, art deco style theatre included projectors that panned images of clouds across the ceiling, dotted with twinkling lights to resemble stars.
Queen City Pool and Bathhouse opened in 1943 with money from the Warner family. Don Buel Schuyler, a student of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, designed the pool house of the city's first public pool.
The city’s first traffic light is installed at 15th Street and Hackberry Lane in 1945, followed by the first of 750 parking meters in 1947.
The 10-story bank building at the corner of what is now University Boulevard and Greensboro Avenue in Tuscaloosa was completed in 1925. Designed by architect D. O. Whilldin, the building was built by the Merchant's Bank & Trust Co., which occupied it until 1930, when during the Depression, the bank failed. First National Bank made good on checks written by Merchant's Bank and Trust and moved into the building. The First National Bank merged with AmSouth Bank and the building was called the AmSouth Building until 2007. It now houses apartments, with the bottom floor occupied by Trustmark Bank.
A Tuscaloosa landmark since the late 1950s, the Moon Winx sign has pointed the way to the even older Moon Winx Lodge on University Boulevard East in Alberta. Sprung from the pop-art aesthetic of the ’50s, the Moon Winx beacon has lured movie star Robert Mitchum, jazz legend Sun Ra, and Paul W. “Bear” Bryant’s teams on home game weekends as, in the ’50s and ’60s, the Moon Winx was removed enough from campus to be a deterent to temptation. The sign was created by the late Gordo-born artist Glenn House, an eclectic creator of works from one-of-a-kind books to grotesquely funny face sculptures to fine ceramics to paintings and sculptures.
On Sept. 30, 1993, Mercedes-Benz changed the economic landscape of Tuscaloosa when the German company announced it would build its first passenger-vehicle assembly plant outside of its home country here. That plant, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, has invested more than $6 billion in its Tuscaloosa operations. The decision to locate here led to other automakers locating assembly plants in Alabama. In total, the auto industry has contributed more than $10 billion in investments to Alabama since 1993. The Mercedes plants now support more than 3,700 jobs in Tuscaloosa County and, across Alabama, around 40,000 people work in the automotive industry.
American Pacific Mining Signs Letter of Intent to Purchase Broadway Gold’s Interest in the Madison Cu-Au Project Under Option with Rio Tinto
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American Pacific Mining Corp (CSE: USGD / FWB: 1QC / OTCPK: USGDF) (“APM” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the company has signed a Letter of Intent with Broadway Gold Mining whereby it was granted the exclusive right to negotiate a definitive agreement with Broadway and certain of its subsidiaries to acquire Broadway’s interest in the Madison Copper Gold Project in Montana, USA.
The project is currently subject to an Earn-In with Option to Joint Venture Agreement (the “Earn-in Agreement”) with Kennecott Exploration Company, part of the Rio Tinto Group (ASX, LON: RIO), as announced by Broadway on April 30, 2019 (a link to the press release can be found here http://tiny.cc/dz2siz). Kennecott Exploration Company is not a party to the Letter of Intent or the proposed transaction between APM and Broadway.
The CEO of American Pacific, Warwick Smith, commented: “The opportunity to acquire the fully-permitted, past-producing Madison Copper Gold Project will strengthen the portfolio with a porphyry/skarn project that has already been evaluated and transacted upon by a major.”
There is no guarantee that the parties will be able to finalize a definitive agreement. It is expected that any such definitive agreement would be subject to a number of conditions, including the receipt of all required regulatory, corporate and stock exchange approvals, the completion of the Arrangement and any required shareholder approvals. The exclusivity obligations described above automatically terminate if Broadway’s previously announced plan of arrangement with Mind Medicine, Inc. does not close. Even if a definitive agreement is executed there can be no assurances that the parties will be able to complete such a transaction.
About the Madison Copper Gold Project:
The Madison Copper Gold Project is located in the heart of Montana’s prolific copper-gold belt only 38km southeast of the world-renowned Butte Mining District. The project, a high-grade Cadia-like skarn over porphyry system, encompasses 2,514 acres consisting of six patented lode claims and 108 unpatented mineral claims. Targets outlined in 2017 cover a two-mile-long by one-mile-wide zone of geophysical, geological and geochemical indicators. The project is permitted for mining, surface and underground exploration, and it encompasses two past-producing underground mines called the Broadway and Madison mines.
The Broadway mine produced 144,000 ounces of gold from 1880-1950. The Madison mine was developed between 2005-2011 and generated 7,570 ounces of gold and 3,020,000 pounds of copper from bulk samples of 19,803 tons (average 0.52 ounce/ton Au and 25% Cu). Broadway Gold Mining Ltd. refurbished parts of the Madison Mine in 2017. Approximately 3,000 total feet of underground workings go to a depth of 215 feet underground at Madison. Broadway rehabilitated the underground workings in order to access certain stopes and underground mineralization, allowing for a successful exploration drill program to take place as well. Currently, known skarn mineralization and massive sulphide gold mineralization is proposed to be linked to a deeper porphyry system.
According to Broadway, approximately $20 million has been invested in the exploration, development and bulk sampling of the Madison mine since 2005. Link to view the Vulcan Model of Madison: Vulcan 3-D Modelling Defines Significant Zones at Madison, Underground Phase II & III Drilling Planned
Drill Highlights from Madison
A current drill program was recently completed at the Project including 14 drill holes targeting an area displaying multielement soil and rock chip geochemical anomalies, historic prospects, strong induced polarization anomalies and porphyry drill intercepts.
Previous drilling at Madison conducted by Broadway has delivered extremely high-grade gold and copper intersections. Underground drilling in 2017 at Madison intersected bonanza gold grades. The underground drill program was designed to test the down dip extension of the auriferous massive sulfide zone below the 600 level. A small program of 307 meters tested the zone with considerable success. Results included:
Surface drilling included 19 holes over 3,984 meters, resulting in the discovery of a larger jasper zone with abundant native copper and gold. Results included:
Story continues
The complete assay results for the intervals, drilling plan and sections can be found at http://www.broadwaymining.com/current-exploration/.
Broadway’s QAQC
Sample Preparation and Quality Control
Supervision, organization and splitting of drilling core samples were undertaken by company personnel. Samples were collected at three-foot intervals from half core samples. Samples were catalogued by Broadway geologists and stored in a secure location. Certified reference standards were placed in the sample stream of each drill hole at random intervals. Blank material was also inserted at random intervals. Samples were packed into rice bags, zap strapped and securely stored until they were turned over to the local trucking company for transport to the ALS Minerals Laboratory in North Vancouver, B.C.
Laboratory Quality Assurance/Quality Control
Quality control samples from the lab include numerous control blanks, duplicates and standards. Reference standards used include OREAS-904, OREAS-45b, OGGeo08 and PGMS25. No issues were noted with analytical accuracy or precision.
Assay Techniques
Three different assay procedures were designed by ALS Minerals for the samples, based on the presence of copper sulfides or oxides, and native copper. The standard assay procedure of Au-ICP21 and Cu-ICP61 was applied to most of the samples. Au-ICP21 is a 30 gram fire assay with an ICP-AES finish. ICP61 is a 4 acid digestion of a 1 gram sample with an ICP finish. Samples with visible copper mineralization received a Cu-OG62 copper analysis, a four acid digestion of a 0.5 grams sample with ICP-AES finish. OG62 has a copper range from 0.001 to 40%, while the ICP61 analysis has a copper maximum range of 10,000 ppm. Samples with visible native copper received a duplicate Cu-ICP61 analysis followed by a duplicate Cu-OG62 analysis that included a WSH-22 procedure where the pulverizers are cleaned with barren material after every sample. Over-limit copper values from the ICP61 analyses received an OG62 procedure to determine the final Cu grade.
Qualified Person
Technical aspects of this press release have been reviewed and approved by Eric Saderholm, P.Geo., the designated Qualified Person (QP) under National Instrument 43-101.
About American Pacific Mining Corp.
American Pacific Mining Corp. is a gold explorer focused on precious metal opportunities in the Western United States. The Gooseberry Gold/Silver Project and the Tuscarora Gold Project are two high-grade, precious metal projects located in key mining districts of Nevada USA. The company’s mission is to grow by the drill bit and by acquisition. American Pacific is Eyeing a Gold Discovery amidst gold’s next bull market.
On Behalf of the Board of American Pacific Mining Corp.
"Warwick Smith"CEO & Director
Corporate Office: Suite 910 – 510 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, V6C 3A8, CanadaContact MarketSmart: 1.877.261.4466, info@marketsmart.ca
Forward-looking Information
Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information (within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation) including, without limitation, statements as to planned exploration activities and the expected timing of the receipt of results. These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, without limitation, customary risks of the mineral resource industry as well as the performance of services by third parties.
Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.
The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/22f4ef76-bc60-4421-9bd9-8b5c050bdef9
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/957c3fa0-d558-4faa-82b0-a8351e0dd002
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c75eb2fc-b779-43c8-a94a-565bcdfb748a
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