鉄子も歴女も猫好きも、招き猫だらけの【豪徳寺】に集合!! – Gathering at the maneko-neko-filled Gotoku TempleGathering at the maneko-neko-filled Gotoku Temple

東京世田谷区「豪徳寺駅」から徒歩10分で、とても立派で大きな豪徳寺に到着。

まずは広い境内の奥にある「招猫堂」へ向かう。

ずらりと並んだ招き猫。願いが叶ったら招き猫を返しにくる風習があるようで、
ここには今年の１月１日以降に願いが叶って返って来た招き猫だけが並んでいる。

願いが叶って招猫堂の横にあるこの祠に返納すると、さらにご利益があるとされている。
半年でこの数！この招き猫には本当にご利益があるようだ。

「招き猫」の由来は諸説あるが、その中でも最も有名なのが、この「豪徳寺」だろう。

この招き猫を見学しているとおじいさんがフラリとやって来て、いろいろ教えてくれた。
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江戸時代の話。

鷹狩りをしていた武将たちが豪徳寺の前を通りかかると、寺の白い飼い猫が門前で手招きをした。
その手招きに誘われ、武将が寺に寄ると雷雨が降り始めた。
当時の豪徳寺は貧乏な寺だったが、和尚は武将を寺に招いてお茶を出し説法を行った。
その説法の素晴らしさと雷雨を免れることができたことから、
その武将はこの寺を菩提寺(ancestral temple)とし、多額の資金を提供して寺を立派に立て直した。

この時の雷雨を免れた武将は彦根藩第二代藩主・井伊直孝であり、
（日本人なら教科書で学んだ）幕末に桜田門外の変で暗殺された井伊直弼の先祖にあたる。
豪徳寺には伊井家の墓が代々あり、もちろんあの井伊直弼の墓もある。

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ひこにゃんはこの招き猫がモデルになった。

和尚はこの猫が死ぬと墓を建てて弔った。
その後に境内に招猫堂が建てられ、猫が片手を挙げている姿をかたどった招福猫児（まねぎねこ）が作られるようになった。

ここの招き猫は右手で招いている。
右手で招くのは金運を招き、左手で招くのは人を招く。
しかしお金とは関係なく、右手は仏教では大切な方の手。だから右手を挙げているんだろう。

猫をよく見ると表情が違うものがある。
この招き猫は時代に寄って表情が変わっているそうで、よく見ると眉毛が太かったり、黒目が大きかったりする。
一つ一つが少しずつ違った表情で、まるで生きているようだ。

由来の詳細はこちら＞wikipedia(日本語) / wikipedia(英語)

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おじいさんの話はまだまだたくさんあるのだが、ここでは割愛する。

この招き猫は寺の本堂で買うことができる。一番大きいもので5000円。
私は500円の小さいものを買った。

このお寺は招き猫だけでなく歴史があり、夏は新緑・秋は紅葉と楽しめる。
実は最寄り駅は世田谷線「宮の坂駅」の方が近く、東京では数少ない路面電車の世田谷線でゆっくり訪れるのもおすすめだ。

豪徳寺 〒154-0021 東京都世田谷区豪徳寺２−２４−７ 9時～17時くらい

【Writer】Tokyo de Asobo:YoshidaWalking for ten minutes from Gotokuji Station in Setagaya City, I find myself at the large, splendid Gotoku Temple.

I first make my way inside the large compound and towards the maneki-neko-dou, a ‘lucky cat’ shrine.

The maneki-neko are all lined up in rows. There is a custom where maneki-neko are returned to the shrine if they have granted someone’s wish, so the ones lined up now are the ones that have granted wishes from January 1 this year.

Following having your original wish come true, it is said that if you return the maneki-neko to the small shrine to the side, you will receive an additional blessing. It’s only halfway through the year but there are so many! It really looks like these maneki-neko work!

There are varying opinions on the origin of maneki-neko, but the famous of them is perhaps the Gotoku Temple story.

While I investigated the maneki-neko, an elderly gentleman wandered over and began to tell me various things about them.

One of the stories he told me was from the Edo period.

After having gone out to do some falconry, military commanders happened to pass by the front of Gotoku Temple, when the temple’s white cat beckoned to them from the gate.

With the cat’s invitation, the commanders decided to visit the temple. As they did, a thunderstorm began.

In those days, Gotoku Temple was lacking funds and in a decrepit state. Despite this, the high priest invited the commanders in for tea, where he proceeded to give a sermon. Due to the magnificence of the sermon and the refuge that the commanders received from the storm, one of the commanders adopted the Gotoku Temple as his family’s bodaiji (ancestral temple). He also gave a large sum of money for the temple to be rebuilt to a more admirable state.

One of those commanders who had escaped the storm was the second feudal lord of the Hikone Domain, Ii Naotaka (if you’re Japanese, you would have learnt this from a textbook). He was a descendant of Ii Naosuke who was assassinated in the Sakuradamon Incident during Bakumatsu, the end of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Gotoku Temple has been the gravesite of the Ii family for generations, so it’s only natural Ii Naosuke’s grave is here, too.

Hikonyan was modelled after the maneki-neko here at Gotoku Temple.

The priest built a grave to commemorate the cat after it died. Afterwards, the small maneki-neko shrine was built, and the maneki-neko was created based on the figure of a cat with one of its paws raised.

The maneki-neko here all beckon visitors with their right paws. By doing so with their right paws, they are calling for economic prosperity; when they beckon with their left paws, they’re gesturing for people to enter. In reality, the right paw has nothing to do with money; in Buddhism the right hand is important, which may be why the cat’s right paw is raised.

If you look carefully, there are differences in the cats’ expressions seemingly dependent on the era.

Such changes can be seen in their thickening eyebrows, and their increasingly large black eyes. Little by little, their expressions differ, making it seem as if they were alive.

More details on the origin of maneki-neko can be found here: Wikipedia

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The elderly gentleman told me many more things but I’ll leave that for another time.

These maneki-neko cats are available for purchase from the main building. The large ones cost 5,000

yen. I bought the small 500 yen maneki-neko.

Not only does this temple have maneki-neko, but it also has history. You can also enjoy the greenery in summer, and the changing colours of the leaves in autumn.

Gotoku Temple is actually close to Miyanosaka Station. Trams in Tokyo run few and far between, so I highly recommend taking your time visiting Gotoku Temple via the Setagaya Line.

Gotoku-ji 〒154-0021 Tokyo-kyou Setagaya-ku Gotoku-ji 2-24-7 Open from 9 am to 5 pm

【Writer】Tokyo de Asobo:Yoshida
【Translator】Excelsis