Gotokuji Temple: Tokyo’s Lucky Cat Temple
Introduction
Tucked away in a quiet part of Tokyo, there are thousands of cats. Well, ceramic ones anyway. This is Gotokuji Temple, the famous “lucky cat” temple. Said to be the birthplace of the maneki neko figurine. If you haven’t heard of these little lucky cats before, you’ve definitely seen them somewhere. They depict a cat sitting upright, beckoning with its paw. If they have the right paw up, it’s said to be beckoning success or fortune, while the left paw up invites customers – if you’ve ever seen this in front of a business or in a restaurant, chances are the cat’s had its left paw up.
This temple has been established since 1480, and today it’s a must visit for cat loving tourists to Tokyo.
The Legend of the Lucky Cat Temple
There are several legends around the maneki neko, the most famous of which is centred around Gotokuji. The legend goes that in the 1600s, a lord, Ii Naotaka, was travelling when he encountered a cat that beckoned him towards the temple, just before a thunderstorm broke out. Grateful to have escaped the storm, he and his party decided the cat had brought them good fortune. As a result, the Ii family became patrons of Gotoku-ji. The temple thrived under their patronage, and when the original beckoning cat passed away, the “Beckoning Cat Hall” was erected in his memory. Today, it displays thousands of white beckoning cat statues.
The lucky cat statues
Gotokuji is said to grant wishes to those who visit. They sell maneki neko of all sizes in the temple, and the tradition says that you should buy a figurine, make a wish, and then return it when your wish has been granted. In the temple, there’s an area for offerings, where visitors place their cat statues, and it’s such a lovely sight to see.
Buying a lucky cat
The temple sells maneki neko of all sizes, and you can either pay for your purchases through a vending machine or at the counter. The vending machine is outside the office of the temple, and tends to have a very long queue as it accepts cards. The queue to go directly up to the counter and pay cash tends to move much faster, so this is what I’d recommend.
If they’re running low on stock, you’ll see signs telling you what’s sold out and what’s available, and they may have limits on how many you can purchase at a time.
On the day I visited, I bought two figurines: One for me, and one for my husband. Mine is currently sitting in my flat in London, hopefully to return to its home in Japan when my wish comes true!
The shop also sells other items such as Ema (the wooden prayer boards you’ll see in temples everywhere), stamp books, keyrings, tote bags and chopsticks.
The Temple Grounds
Aside from the lucky cat statues, the temple grounds themselves are worth visiting. Temples in Japan are, in my opinion, beautiful and peaceful. In a city as big and busy as Tokyo, they’re often little oases of calm and quiet. Gotokuji covers about 50,000 square metres with a range of greenery and trees, as well as the tombs of the Ii family and pagodas.
Visiting Gotokuji, the Lucky Cat Temple
Transport
The lucky cat temple is located in the Setagaya area of Tokyo, and it’s served by the Tokyu Setagaya tram. If you’ve seen the “cat tram” doing the rounds on social media, this is the one. Not every tram is the “Lucky Cat Train”, and on my visit I was just a little bit gutted to see a regular tram rounding the corner. If you’ve got your heart set on catching the cat tram, I’d recommend checking the timetable first.
The nearest stations to the temple are Gotokuji station, which is about a 15 minute walk to the temple. Or there’s the tram to Miyanosaka, which leaves you about a 5 minute walk away.
Visitors Information
The temple is free to visit, and at the time of writing, is open from 6am-5pm, although the office/shop is only open from 8:00am to 3:00pm.
The times may change with the seasons, so do be sure to check before you go!
Address: 2 Chome-24-7 Gotokuji, Setagaya City, Tokyo 154-0021, Japan
Tips:
The area around the temple is a lot of pretty, quiet residential streets and some cool shopping streets with little stores and lots of cat themed souvenirs and treats. The temple isn’t huge, and you can probably get around it in an hour. If you want to explore some of the local area, give yourself another hour. This is definitely an activity you could do in a morning/afternoon, and still have plenty of the day left to explore other parts of Tokyo.
For more Japan tips and suggestions of things to do, why not check out some of my other Japan posts here – and if you have suggestions for my next trip, drop a comment, I’d love to hear them!
