Maneki-neko, Kumade and Daruma: Japanese Lucky Charms

Japanese shops and homes are full of engimono, "objects of good omen": the beckoning cat (maneki-neko) in the window, the decorated bamboo rake (kumade) above the counter, the red daruma doll with one eye painted in. Each is bought at a shrine, temple or festival, kept for a season, and returned to be ritually burned when its work is done. Scholars of Japanese religion call this the pursuit of genze riyaku, "this-worldly benefits", a central and entirely respectable strand of Japanese religious life. The customs below are open to anyone who visits.

How to do it§

1. Choose the charm. For a shop or business, the traditional choice is a maneki-neko or a kumade; for a goal such as passing an examination or completing a project, a daruma.
2. Buy it with intent. Where possible, buy at a shrine or temple, or at its festival, rather than at a souvenir shop. At the Tori no Ichi ("Rooster Market") fairs held at Ōtori shrines in November, buyers of kumade are cheered with rhythmic hand-clapping (tejime); it is customary to start small and buy a larger rake each year as business grows.
3. Pay respects. Before or after buying, approach the shrine, rinse hands and mouth at the water basin, offer a coin, bow twice, clap twice, state your wish silently, and bow once more.
4. Place the charm.
   • A maneki-neko is set facing the entrance or in the shop window. A raised right paw is usually said to beckon money, a raised left paw customers; tri-coloured cats are considered especially lucky, gold ones are linked with wealth.
   • A kumade is hung high, facing the door, to "rake in" good fortune.
   • A daruma is set on a high shelf. Fill in one eye as you make your vow; fill in the second when the goal is achieved.
5. Keep them respectfully. Dust them, keep them high and clean, and do not set them on the floor.
6. Return them. At the end of the year, or when the goal is reached, take old charms back to a shrine or temple. Many hold a burning ceremony (otakiage or daruma kuyō) in January. Then buy anew for the coming year.

Origins and history§

Several temples and shrines claim the origin of the maneki-neko. Gōtoku-ji in Setagaya, Tokyo, tells of a cat that beckoned a passing lord, usually identified as Ii Naotaka, into the temple shortly before a storm in the seventeenth century, earning the temple his patronage. Imado Shrine in Asakusa links the cat to Imado ware pottery, said to have been sold near Sensō-ji. Whatever the legend, beckoning cats are well documented by the mid-nineteenth century: ukiyo-e prints of the 1850s show them sold at Asakusa, and they spread across Japan in the Meiji period, especially in shops and pleasure quarters.

The kumade belongs to the Tori no Ichi festivals, which grew up in Edo in the eighteenth century around shrines of the deity Ōtori (or Washi) Myōjin, linked to warrior luck and later to merchants. The daruma is a stylised image of Bodhidharma, the legendary founder of Zen, who in legend lost the use of his limbs after years of meditation facing a wall; the weighted, round doll that rights itself when pushed down became an emblem of perseverance (nanakorobi yaoki, "fall seven times, rise eight"). Shōrinzan Daruma-ji in Takasaki is particularly associated with making daruma, from the eighteenth century onwards.

Ian Reader and George J. Tanabe's Practically Religious (1998) argues that buying and returning amulets and engimono is not a "superstitious" fringe but a normal and ethically shaped part of Japanese religion, in which wishes for prosperity are joined with effort, gratitude and the support of the kami and buddhas.

Variations§

Other engimono include the Seven Gods of Fortune (Shichifukujin), whose images are collected on New Year pilgrimages; Ebisu, with his fishing rod and sea bream, is especially honoured by merchants at the Tōka Ebisu festival in January. The ceramic tanuki of Shigaraki stands outside many restaurants, and arrows called hamaya are bought at New Year to ward off misfortune.

Safety and good sense§

Bonfires for returning charms are run by shrines and temples; do not burn painted or plastic charms at home, where they can give off harmful fumes. Treat shrine grounds and the people working there with courtesy. Charms are reminders of hope and effort, not guarantees of profit, and business difficulties call for practical advice.

Sources and further reading§

• Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan — Ian Reader and George J. Tanabe Jr., 1998
• Religion in Contemporary Japan — Ian Reader, 1991
• Matsuri: Festivals of a Japanese Town — Michael Ashkenazi, 1993
• Religion in Japanese History — Joseph M. Kitagawa, 1966
• Japanese Religion: A Survey by the Agency for Cultural Affairs — Hori Ichirō (ed.), 1972