Japanese "Waving Kitty" Making Waves for USA baseb

[torasan]

Japanese "Waving Kitty" Making Waves for St. Paul Saints Baseball Fans

by Atsumi Kiyoshi
special to the Tokyo Shimbun

July 20, 2005

TOKYO -- This kitty is making waves in America now, and Minnesota
baseball fans can''t get enough of her.

While the ubiquitous "maneki neko" of Japanese culture is famous
throughout Japan -- as a lucky charm for stores, pubs and night clubs
-- the pan-Asian icon has found a new home for herself in St. Paul,
Minnesota, where a minor league baseball team called the St. Paul
Saints is using a "Waving Kitty" caricature on its video scoreboard to
raise fan excitement and help bring in the runs.

One fan of the St. Paul Saints wrote on an Internet site: "The
Japanese 'Happy Waving Kitty' has been sighted several times this
summer in Section A here at home and at a Sioux Falls away fame. She
has been the source of many rallies, and a woman named Michelle, who
we also call the 'Candy Lady', is the owner of two kittys, and she
brings them to each game she attends. Look for them on the 3rd base
dugout or on Rusty's table."

What's this? A Japanese cultural icon is being used as a fan motivator
for a minor league baseball team in the Midwest of America? Yes, and
acccording to the team's management staff, the Waving Kitty has adding
a certain "je ne sais quoi" to this season's games, as well as helping
a few runs come in during game rallies, runs that might not have come
in otherwise.

The Happy Waving Kitty is displayed on the Midway Stadium video board
whenever the Saints need a rally, according to a team spokesman. And
the strategy seems to have worked in one crucial game, he said, noting
that the Saints took the Northern League first-half title with a
little help from the Happy Waving Kitty!

Now word reaches Tokyo that on August 29, the first 2,500 fans who
arrive at the Midway Stadium ballpark will receive a free ''maneki
neko'' piggy bank, compliments of the St. Paul Saints and a local
steak house called the Ichiban Steak House.

An international website based in Japan has already shown the spotlight on this unique
cross-cultural sports phenomenon, and websites and blogs across Japan
and the USA have been talking about the arrival of the Happy Waving
Kitty in St. Paul for the past few weeks.

A new baseball legend is born, and St. Paul, Minnesota is the place
where it all happened. According to news reports, a few people from
the team's management staff were having dinner at a local restaurant
earlier this summer when they saw the cute and colorful Waving Kitty
at the cash register. When they asked the waitress if they could buy
one, she told them they could buy two and the staff took the lucky
kitty statues back to their office and began to brainstorm.

The result was an idea born from that luncheon: put the Waving Kitty
on the video scoreboard at Midway Stadium and use her to help bring in
some runs, build fan excitement and create a media sensation at the
same time. If all goes according to plan, it won't be long before the
New York Times, ESPN, Sports Illustrated and CNN come calling and put
the story of the St. Paul Saints' Happy Waving Kitty on the front page
of newspapers everywhere, according to one Tokyo sportswriter who
spent several years studying in America and knows the power of the US
media to make a heroine out of this colorful and cute Waving Kitty.

"Are you going to show the video of the Waving Kitty at every game?
This could become a new fad!" one Internet poster asked the team
website in May.

And the team management noted on another website: "The good news about
yesterday is that
"Happy Waving Kitty" made her big-screen debut here at the stadium. We
animated a 'maneki neko' and showed her on the big screen during the
many rallies we had. It worked well!"

"There is the beginning of a small 'Maneki Neko' club here at the
stadium," another St. Paul baseball observer noted on a website.
"After appearing on the videoboard a second day, some fans have
started to mimic the waving cat's waving paw. I think the cat's time
has come. The Waving Kitty might help put this team on the map, all
over the world, if word gets out via the media. So far, not one local
paper has picked up the story. It's a natural for the sports papers.
So what are they waiting for?"

Move over, Smokey the Bear and Tony the Tiger and Mickey and Minny,
here comes the Happy Waving Kitty in St. Paul, Minnesote, and minor
league baseball in America will never be the same.

##

[Atsumi Kiyoshi is a Toky-based sports commentator from Shibamata,
Tokyo, with a longtime interest in American baseball.]

[Kuang_Grade]

I had heard the legend about the rich guy saved by the cat as the origin of Maneki Neko but this site has another take on it...I don't know if I buy the reasoning but interesting never the less.

http://www.amy.hi-ho.ne.jp/~mono93/cat/english/history_e.html

As the above materials show, Maneki Neko appeared suddenly when the time of Samurai (Edo period) was over. We suppose this historical phenomenon is deeply related with inflow of Western culture based on Christianity.

In Edo period, Japan grew a unique culture closing the country for 250 years, and also produced an amusement town for men called Yuukaku which consisted of amusement houses in Japanese style companioned with hostess or prostitute. In Yuukaku, each amusement house had a good luck shelf, and displayed the male sexual organs made of various materials like paper, clay, bamboo, horn, etc. on it with other good luck articles.

In Japan, the artificial male sexual organs had been worshipped from ancient time for the realization of good harvests and prosperity. Even now there are some shrines which set up the artificial male sexual organs made of wood or stone as an object of worship. In Yuukaku, the artificial male sexual organs were displayed on a shelf, and the house owners prayed a flourishing business to it every day.
...
This new Meiji government pressed on a westernization of Japan to establish modern industrialization rapidly. Traditional Japanese culture in Edo period was recognized negatively as uncivilized, and Western culture based on Christianity was regarded highly. This trend changed Japanese way of thinking about sex. Frank and open consciousness of sex in Edo period was restricted under the influence of Western moral. Worship of the artificial male sexual organs was denied consequently, and it was prohibited under the law to make, sell and display it at 1872. After this, the artificial male sexual organs disappeared from good luck shelves of the houses, and Maneki Neko appeared succeeding its position.

Because of its tempting existence, Japanese prostitute was expressed as cat at that time. In place of the prohibited artificial male sexual organs, the house owners displayed Maneki Neko imaging a prostitute making an inviting gesture. It is not sure if Maneki Neko was invented newly to display a good luck shelf or pre-existed one was displayed as substitute. But there is no doubt the prohibition against the worship of male sexual organs at 1872 made Maneki Neko popular in Yuukaku in consequence. Following the amusement houses, some restaurants also started to display Maneki Neko wishing to invite guests, and then Maneki Neko spread all over Japan as a good luck article of flourishing business.

[emperor]

Wikipedia agrees with the prostitute theory that

Maneki Neko soon appeared in their place as a substitute charm, their beckoning gesture perhaps in imitation of a beckoning woman.

..but also:

Legends and stories

Maneki Neko is the subject of a number of legends. Here are three of the most popular, explaning the cat's origins:

The Temple Cat: This story goes that a wealthy feudal lord was taking shelter under a tree near Gotoku-ji temple (in Western Tokyo) during a thunderstorm. The lord saw the temple priest's cat beckoning to him and followed; a moment later the tree was struck by lightning. The wealthy man became friends with the poor priest and the temple became prosperous. When the cat died, supposedly the first Maneki Neko was made in his honor.[6]

The Courtesan: A courtesan named Usugumo, living in Yoshiwara, in eastern Tokyo, kept a cat, much beloved by her. One night, the cat began tugging at her kimono. No matter what she did, the cat persisted. The owner of the brothel saw this, and believing the cat bewitched, cut its head off. The cat's head then flew to the ceiling where it killed a snake, ready at any moment to strike. Usugumo was devestated at the death of her companion. To cheer her up one of her customers made her a wooden likeness of her cat as a gift. This cat image then become popular as the Maneki Neko.

The Old Woman: A old woman living in Imado (eastern Tokyo) was forced to sell her cat due to her extreme poverty. Soon afterwards the cat appeared to her in a dream. The cat told her to make its image in clay. She did as instructed, and soon afterwards sold the statue. She then made more, and people bought more. They were so popular she soon became prosperous and wealthy.

[torasan]

The Saint Paul Saints baseball team in Minnesota play a game on Friday, July 26. This could be the game that gives the US media a chance to pick up the Maneki Neko story from there. We'll see.