Maneki Neko is one of the most popular lucky symbols in Japan with a smiling face and a waving leg.
The belief in a Maneki Neko can trace back to the late Edo period and arose from an old proverb “If a cat raises its paw over the ears and washes its face, then patrons will come”. And it gradually broadens its meaning for each waving leg while the left is meant for more customers to a shop and the right for luck and happiness.
Back to the painting on the art shoes, we gather different sizes of Maneki Nekos with left and right waving legs and words of benison and symbols of money on their bodies, impetrating for both fortune and felicity.