In Japan the cats were considered useful since the oldest times, because they were keeping under control the mice and rats. At the beginning of the Edo Period there was even a law stipulating that all the cats should be left to roam free, in order to combat the mice which were threatening the silk worms.

Also during the Edo Period were produced the first statues of Maneki Neko, the magical cat with the raised paw that brings good fortune and customers for businesses. Today, the Maneki Neko statues are everywhere, in a large variety of designs, some of them quite different from the original version…
Photographed here are two really cute cat statues, discovered on a street from Uchiko, on the Shikoku Island.

Neko statues

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Japanese superstitions, Number 4 and a city without the tramway 4