vilakins | Day 30 - Lucky Cats

The last real entry for naarmamo is a pair of fat little cats I bought from a Thai cafe which also sold a strange assortment of imported stuff. I was just going to buy one but I decided they came as a pair. They're not Thai as that's a different alphabet. I thought they were Chinese, but googling seems to show more hits for Japanese maneki neko. So far I haven't seen any like these though.

[Edit] It turns out that they're Chinese; thanks, jaxomsride. A lucky cat museum site has yellow one from Taiwan with a gourd from the same range. :-) Here's what it says about her:

YELLOW cats beckon for good health, stability, & good marriages.
One of my bestest feel-goodest cats! Everything about this guy says "HAPPINESS". He's bright yellow (for "wealth") with colorful detailing, holds a crystal ball (a symbol for "purity") & also a lucky gourd (for "longevity"). His smile & body language are right on. 2.5" (6.5 cm) tall, painted ceramic. ID: Embossed in an oval beside his tail is "Kao / Miao Chuang". Purchased new from Taiwan.

One of mine has that oval which I'd never noticed before; the other has a butterfly in an oval. "Miao" BTW is a Chinese name; I had a friend called that. I think "kao" just means clay.

And look: two more yellows and two orange ones, different again!

They're a good choice for today as the orange one looks as if she's waving goodbye. They're supposed to bring good luck and wealth, but so far they haven't worked. :-P I like them anyway. They make me smile.

Lucky Cats

I was pleased at finding that brush that does speckles yesterday as it added glitter to the red bits. They're mainly matt with parts painted in metallic paint, they have paler cheeks and paws, and they're holding glass balls for some reason. I've had to glue one back on since I bought them.

My NaArMaMo 2009 Gallery is here.

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How neat. That kind of cat is common in Japan too. I love all the detail work on them. :D

They could be Japanese! [looks underneath] Nothing but a price sticker. I just know they're not Thai because they have a different alphabet. :-) They're cute from behind too: fat little bums with patches of glitter, and the orange one has a curly tail.

These are glorious--definitely Japanese, I'd say. There are pictures of them in lots of Japanese catalogues. You did such a great drawing of them.

I looked at some images, but most are like the ones at the Japanese restaurants here: shiny and sitting upright with a paw in front, sometimes wagging. I've never seen any quite like these.

Damn. The yellow one just lost her glass ball. I'll have to glue it back on.

Those look Chinese. Now I am not sure what they say (I am only learning Chinese script at the moment) but when I have picked up slightly more I might be able to help. Can you photograph the characters or draw them out more clearly as I have an idea how I can help (lots of Chinese readers and speakers around where I am).

The characters aren't very accurate, so don't go by them. I'll try to draw them out for you, but often Japanese kanji is the same anyway. There are lots of Chinese round here too, but I never thought of asking.

OK, here you go. The cats are only as tall as my thumb, the characters are raised and then painted, and this is the best I could do.

Well the one on the left says, peace. No idea about the right one.

Those are cheerful. Bright and cute.

That's why I bought them! And because I've been picking them up so much, they've both dropped their glass balls. I'll have to find some glue.

Cool! So both characters together mean peace?

They are such cheerful looking cats, they almost look like they are dancing.

Found this site,you may find yours on it.
http://donaldmoon.tripod.com/neko/collect04.html

I love maneki neko and I've managed to get eight of them, as eight is a lucky number in Chinese culture. I've got two small teapots, a pair of earrings, a purple soft toy lucky cat, a tiny china ornament and two teeny ceramic ones which are mobile phone charms - one is on my handbag and the other was on the zip tag of my jacket, but got pulled off and needs to be replaced somewhere. I don't have any of the bigger, gaudy ones with moving paws that you see in shops and restaurants, but you never know.

I love your two. They are an unusual shape and very charming. I love the happy expressions.

So sweet kittens, I love their cute smiles and chubby appearance. They make me smile and feel nice:-)

I've been googling and I think the bottom symbol on the gold letters looks like the Chinese 'Cai' which means 'wealth, money'.

I'd also tried to find your cats but the best I could do was look through the site

jaxomsride posted. The 'magic ball' and both paws up appeared only in Thai cats, I think.

They do! They make me smile.

Oh wow, here's one from that range, a yellow one from Taiwan with a gourd (http://donaldmoon.tripod.com/neko/images/mn_twin_yellow.jpg)! So mine are indeed Chinese. Here's what it says about her:

Huh. I never saw that oval. One of mine has it; the other has a butterfly.

They make me smile too, with their happy faces.

I saw some of the teapots when I was googling. Do they work? I've mainly seen glossy ones with moving paws too, but these two really appealed.

Someone found a small museum site, and another from the range is there: a yellow one from Taiwan with a gourd (http://donaldmoon.tripod.com/neko/images/mn_twin_yellow.jpg). So mine are indeed Chinese as I'd thought.

It turns out that they're Chinese after all; a site has a yellow one from Taiwan with a gourd (http://donaldmoon.tripod.com/neko/images/mn_twin_yellow.jpg) from the same range. :-)

Thanks! They're from Taiwan; see my edited post. :-) There's a link to a picture of a yellow cat from the same range on that site.

Oh, yes! That definitely belongs to the same family. I love the happy expressions on them and the way they look as if they're dancing.

IIRC the legend is that a man was sheltering from a storm under a tree near a temple and saw the temple cat beckoning to him. This in China at least is the opposite of a US beckoning gesture- I'd put the back of my hand outward and curl my fingers up several times. They have the palm outward and curl the fingers down several times. To me, that would be 'goodbye' to them, it's 'come here'.

Curious the man went to the cat- as soon as he left the area near the tree, it was struck by lightning. Grateful for his life, the man endowed the temple, which had been in desperate need of funds. Grateful to the cat, the priests made statues honoring it.

Awwww. Cats know these things. I think my Burmese are descended from temple cats. I know Siamese are.

That gesture is "goodbye" in Russian, curling the fingers down. We flap the whole hand, or wave it sideways.

The teapots are both small - one cup only size. And I'm not a tea drinker so I've never tried them, even with just water.

There's a photo of the smaller one in this lj entry, about my visit to the Antiques Roadshow a couple of years back.

http://san-valentine.livejournal.com/9392.html

That's a very cute little teapot, and you have some interesting finds there.

I collect boys' annuals from the 20s-50s (I often find them at church fairs for about 50c or $1) which have such funny language ("But he's my frightfully fast chum!" he ejaculated.) and archaic values, like foreigners being swarthy and unreliable. I get the occasional girls' one but they're nowhere near as entertaining.

Day 30 - Lucky Cats

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