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| #NekoSelfie |
Konichiwa! My name is Neko! This is the Japanese word for cat. Yes, I know. My human, Sarah is very creative with names. I am what is called a Maneki Neko (招き猫) In English, this means "beckoning cat"
Several stories have been told as to where my species comes from. The traditional story is this: There once was a kind monk living in a beaten down temple. He was very poor and had almost no money, but when he encountered a stray little neko he adopted her and took care of her. He once said to this neko, "If you appreciate what I have done for you, then you will do something for me in return."
This neko wanted to show the monk how much she appreciated his help. One night, a big storm came, and his neko saw several samurai coming up the road. The neko raised her right paw, and beckoned the samurai to come stay with the man in his temple.
These samurai stayed the night with the monk, and listened to him preach all about Buddha. The samurai loved his words so much, that they decided to dedicate their lives to serving Buddha. Before long, the word of this special monk (and his neko) spread all around the village. Eventually the temple became very prosperous, all thanks to the Maneki Neko!
Maneki Neko originated in Japan, but are also used in China.We spend our lives bringing good luck to our humans. We come in several colors, the traditional ones are red, gold, black, and white. I am considered to be "green" because of my collar. What can I say? I'm a modern girl! Green Maneki Neko represent good luck in school studies. Sarah knows it too! She carries me in her backpack every day, and keeps me in her pocket on days she takes a test. I even helped her through all of her freshman year finals!Sarah and I also went on an adventure this Summer, collecting pictures for her AP Biology project. I will be proving that Sarah took all of these pictures herself. Well! I'll see all of you later. I have a cat nap to take.
Sayonara! - Neko
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