Maneki-neko (Lucky Cat): Yoshio Honjo

Why have cats endured as objects of affection and fascination?

The maneki-neko, or “lucky cat,” raises its paw, welcoming us into Yoshio Honjo’s domain with an invitation to a world in which the cat has long-occupied. A recurring and deeply embedded figure in Japanese culture, few animals have occupied such a varied place in the Japanese imagination. Cats have been cherished as companions, associated with temples and imperial households, and woven into folklore as mysterious and sometimes supernatural beings. They have also been regarded as talismans, their presence thought to attract luck, prosperity and protection.

One of the earliest legends surrounding the maneki-neko originates at Gōtoku-ji temple in Tokyo. According to the Edo period (1603–1868) legend, a cat named Tama beckoned the feudal lord Ii Naotaka towards the temple, drawing him away from a sudden lightning strike. In gratitude for his escape, Naotaka became a patron of the temple, and Tama was honoured as a bringer of good fortune. Today, Gōtoku-ji is famous for the thousands of small cat figurines left by visitors as offerings and expressions of their wishes. The maneki-neko has since become a familiar symbol of luck, prosperity and protection, its appeal extending far beyond Japan. In Honjo’s exploration of the feline in Japanese culture, the lucky cat offers a point of entry into a world where animals can be both mythical and extraordinary.

However, cats in Japanese folklore are not always benevolent. Tales of the bakeneko, or the supernatural cat, tell of creatures that transform into human or monstrous forms, deceive the living and sometimes return to exact revenge. These stories inspired a rich tradition of kabuki theatre and ukiyo-e woodblock prints, in which cats appear as shape-shifting spirits or sinister witches. Artists such as Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798–1861) brought these unsettling tales to life through dramatic and imaginative imagery. The legend of The Cat Witch of Okabe, a famous 19th-century Japanese folklore story, draws on the legend of a malevolent feline spirit with a split tail. The legend also incorporates folkloric motifs of dancing cats wearing stolen tenugui (traditional hand towels or napkins) on their heads, depicted again by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) in his painting of Ghosts of Yatsuhashi Village in Okazaki (1847-1852). Later artists such as Yōshū Chikanobu (1838–1912) continued to explore the supernatural and theatrical dimensions of Japanese storytelling in their prints. Drawing inspiration from these ukiyo-e artists, Honjo takes up the baton to breathe new life into the same imagery and characters.

In contemporary Japan, the cat appears in forms both familiar and fantastical: from the ubiquitous maneki-neko and kawaii Hello Kitty figurines, to the feline characters of Studio Ghibli, or the country’s many cat cafés. The cat shifts through these spaces — domestic, mythical, companion and fortune-teller. Honjo draws these strands together by centring the cat as the hero of his own kind of contemporary storytelling. Amongst the rich fabric of folklore and legends, the feline becomes a supernatural presence — both guardian and trickster — refreshing our access to these stories that have shaped the Japanese imagination. Honjo creates his own modern mythology of the cat.