Gotokuji Temple

Gotokuji is one of two or three temples that claim to be the origin of the maneki-neko, the beckoning cat. The story attached here is that a lord sheltering from a storm was beckoned in by the temple cat, avoiding a lightning strike, and endowed the temple in gratitude. Whatever the truth, the practice is real and current: visitors buy a small white cat figure, make a wish, and when it is granted return the figure to the temple. They accumulate on tiered wooden racks beside a hall - hundreds of them, all white with a red collar and a raised paw, in sizes from a few centimetres to about thirty, weathering slowly in the open. The rest of the temple is a working Soto Zen compound with a three-storey pagoda and a cemetery, and it is quiet, residential and free.

What you actually see

• Racks of white cats - hundreds of returned figures on tiered wooden shelves.
• A returning practice - figures bought, wished on, and brought back when the wish is granted.
• One cat design - all white with a red collar and a raised paw, in graded sizes.
• A working temple - a Soto Zen compound with a pagoda and cemetery around it.

When to go

All year; morning light on the racks. An hour.

Honest expectations

It is small and the cat racks are one corner of the grounds. It has become busy since circulating online, and it remains a working temple and cemetery - keep voices down. Figures cannot be taken away, only left. Photography of funerals or mourners is not acceptable.

Nearby

Shimokitazawa is north-east; the Setagaya tram line runs past.