Maneki-neko 招き猫 (Part IX) : Black Kitty & an assortment of other fortune cats

Hubby Dearest was in love with a black porcelain cat that was already sold out by Siri Paradise.  Typical of fortune cats which were modelled to protect its owners, it emanated a quiet elegance with a subdued feline gracefulness.

Isn't its glossy black coat beautiful looking?

Since Hubby Dearest top choice was already out of stock and we were wondering which part of our home could accommodate such a huge black cat, we had decided to settle down for a miniature version that was both adorable & space-saving.  Isn't he cute looking?

 

We had named him blackie for simplicity.

Jacy from Siri Paradise had thrown in a Japan imported black lacquered display stand which my newly acquired black kitty "Blackie" is seated on with the red felt fabric that came with him.

Jacy had also showed me a calico version of Blackie which you could see here in the photograph below:

However, Hubby Dearest was so taken in by Blackie that we stuck fast to our one & only choice.

We have also taken a photo shot of both cats standing side by side to each other - Happy posing!

Apart from our earlier couple figurine (which was fitted in royal outfits), which we placed in our living room, we bought another version of the couple cat figurine.

Unlike its earlier royal counterpart, this version was cast out in glossy porcelain & trimmed in gold accents.

It was a dainty looking little treasure and we wasted no time in placing them in our bedroom... where they lived happily ever after like any couple in a fairy tale!

I also bought this pretty & cute looking porcelain cup fashioned in the form of Maneki-neko 招き猫.  It was too pretty to be used.  Thus, I have stored it away for the time being until the opportunity arises for me to bring it out for use.

You could guess why I found this cup adorable... The Cup was so "well-dressed" from top to toe, and all the way to the back of its "body" - not forgetting the stubby looking tail and other pretty details such as the Sakura flower & Mount Fuji, which are auspicious symbols of Japan.

Jacy had also brought with her a huge galore of other Maneki-neko 招き猫 which you could have a quick glance by watching the You-tube video that I have created below & I hope that all fans of the Maneki-neko 招き猫 would enjoy it!

 

 

Due to time constraints, I have singled out to feature this pretty Japanese imported  Maneki-neko 招き猫 here in my blog.  It doubles up as a coin bank.

 

 

It's holding onto a stack of miniature Japanese currencies which are printed very nicely on both sides.

 

 

 

This cat figurine is also wearing a red bib with a golden tone bell that's moulded into its chest as shown in the photograph below:

 

 

 

 

 

 



 



Maneki-neko 招き猫 (Part VII) : Fujisan --- The Golden Opportunity Cat

From the very first time I set my sight on the Golden Opportunity Cat, I knew that he was mine.

 

Once again, I acquired this Maneki-neko 招き猫 from Siri Paradise with a wide smile plastered to my face when I place him next to Koban, another of his senior & hopefully, would serve as his mentor.

I observed that the porcelain tone of this cat isn't as white as compared to Sakura & Le-Petit's.  He had a sort of light grayish undertone to his white porcelain.

Nevertheless, the pricing was a lot lower than the rest of products I have bought from Siri Paradise.   As such, it's value for money given the quality as you could see in the upcoming video clip I did for the cat.

The auspicious symbols are of great significance to those of us who have career ambitions in mind.  The brinjals, fish, golden flower petals, etc ...

As such, I was very happy to have him at home.




In view of the many Maneki-neko 招き猫 at home, I ran out of ideas in naming him.  After much contemplation, his name was inspired by the symbols of Japan's great Mount Fuji on both sides of his chubby body - Fujisan.

It was said that Mount Fuji got its name from the word "immortality", which surprisingly is written as 不死 and read as pu-see in Japanese.

There were also other auspicious symbols, such as the brinjals & fish, found on Fujisan which had me sold on him when Jacy of Siri Paradise first showed him to me.

And Fujisan is also outfitted with a gold-tone bell at the collar, which my Maneki-neko 招き猫would never be perceived as complete should it be without it (bell).

Fujisan is fashioned in a crouching position such that he was pouncing onto a gold-tone bell which was in fact sewn onto his collar.

I was surprised to learn from Jacy that this bell isn't just there for decorative purposes.  It signifies golden opportunities knocking on his owner's door and grabbing them at every chance when they come rolling our way!

Before penning off, I would like to share the following photographs on Fujisan :

Isn't Fujisan a darling?  ( ^.^ )

By the time I pen-off this write-up on Fujisan, I'm already panting with exhaustion & exhilaration.  With Hubby Dearest overlooking from the back of my shoulder and shaking his head ...

Maneki-neko 招き猫 (Part VI) : Couple Cat Figurine

I first spotted this couple cat figurine on taobao.com while I was surfing through the internet few weeks ago.

I didn't realise that Siri Paradise has this item until Jacy showed it to me during her visit to my home.

 

永浴爱河 (Yong Yu Ai He) was what Jacy said to me when she showed me this pretty couple cat figurine.  It's a Chinese idiom for conjugal bliss which meant "to bathe in a river of love forever".

 

We "glorified" the couple cat figurine by placing it right amongst our wedding photographs that were displayed in photo frames of all sizes.

 

 

We also did a video clip of this couple cat figurine by placing it on a revolving platform. 

It's my second video but I'm a bit disappointed by the outcome because the video looked a bit blurry.  *sigh* :( 

I suspected that it could be a result of editing & conversion into a file that's acceptable on Youtube that compromised the video quality ... The video clip which I recorded using iphone looks really sharp & clear though.
 

Anyway, here are more photographs of the couple cat figurine :

Stay tuned for my next write-up on the Golden Opportunity Cat! 

Coming soon in the next episode of Maneki-Neko ...

Maneki-neko 招き猫 (Part V) : Solar-powered Cat --- by Kimura Ohshido (from Siri Paradise)

I bought this solar powered cat on the same day as Le Petit from Jacy of Siri Paradise.  It's another high quality Japanese craft from Kimura Ohshido in Japan.

 

 

 

It's a cute little thing that's great for those of us who had a soft spot for small & kawaii (adorable) stuff such as myself.

 

I did a video clip on this solar powered cat.  However, it seems amateurish as it's the first video I have created.  I'm hopeful that my video editing techniques would be more polished in the near future.

 

Here comes my humble video (^.^) ...

 

Jacy had mentioned to me that the supplier claimed that the solar powered cat is going to last forever.  I'm hoping that it lasts too as it's such an adorable-looking thing to fall in love with & laugh at it each time I set eyes on it!   ( ^ . ^ )  ... And it's also because of the somewhat hefty price tag that came with it too ...

 

The cat's ticking tail derives its energy from a mini solar strip (I think it's known as a solar cell) that's found on solar powered calculators which are commonly found in stationery stores.

We were very surprised that this item has a very sensitive mechanism such that the cat would start wagging its tail in an upward motion swinging from side to side under natural light.  The windows are more than 3 meters away from the solar powered cat's location & yet, the cute kitty cat would start ticking its tail like a metronome for musicians.

I observed that the cat would start wagging its tail gradually after 7 AM in the morning & start picking up its speed within half an hour, maintaining its "wagging speed" all the way past 6 PM in the evening.  That's a good 12 hours of tail swinging every day! ;)

As you could see from the photograph, the product is certified to be made in Japan with a set of serial numbers.

Jacy has other designs of solar powered cats & dogs which are a lot larger in size & in a stand-alone design up for grabs.  Not as dainty as this version that I bought but still worth buying especially for avid fans of  Maneki-neko 招き猫!

Ganbatte! 頑張って !

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Disclaimer:

Kindly note that this blogging article is created strictly for the purpose of sharing my humble & objective views of products sold by the aforesaid company.

 

I am not affiliated to Siri Paradise or Kimura Ohshido mentioned in this blogging entry. 

 

Reader's discretion is therefore sought when viewing this thread and making any purchases with the sellers.

 

Thank you for your kind understanding.

Maneki-neko 招き猫 (Part IV) : Le-Petit

Shortly after I acquired Sakura whose featured in my preceding blogging entries, I was struck by the beauty of yet another fortune cat with a distinctive hallmark of purple wisteria flowers on his body as illustrated on the website of Siri Paradise.

Although I told myself that Sakura would be the last kitty cat I would acquire for our home as I'm quite a neat freak myself & dislike cluttering, my resolution melted at the sight of this new cat ... I started rationalising my purchase in favour of this adorable & petite cat since he is smaller than Sakura in size, wouldn't take up much space, blah blah blah ...

And I was even more convinced that I was buying from the right seller as I had very positive vibes about Jacy, the owner of Siri Paradise just by receiving her first response via email for my enquiry about the new cat (which I did eventually purchase from her).

Jacy is very frank about the origin of the porcelain Maneki-neko 招き猫 I was enquiring about - I was a bit dumbfounded that she had been so generous in sharing her knowledge & expertise about Maneki-neko 招き猫 with a potential buyer (referring to myself) whose a total stranger to her.  Such transparency coming from an entrepreneur is indeed a rarity today.  And I am so grateful for making her acquaintance through Maneki-neko 招き猫.

As I was still nursing a swollen ankle, she had been kind enough to make a home delivery without imposing any extra charges for transportation.  She had also been very polite in asking for permission to show me other items from Kimura Ohshido during her visit to my home.  Non-obligatory as she's assured me ...

Now let's get our focus back on our newly acquired Maneki-neko 招き猫 from Siri Paradise.  Although he is smaller in size as compared to Sakura, he too has sakura flowers but in a lighter shade of pink, long sprays of purple wisteria and other flowers adorning his white porcelain body.  An emblem of good luck & wishes that came with the cat ...

You guys must be wondering why I referred this cat to a "he" and not a "she" since flowers are always associated with femininity.  Well, my interpretation is such that since his head isn't decorated with flowers, then he could be a he-cat.  A little brother to Sakura.

After much contemplation, I decided to name him Le-Petit, which is the masculine version of La Petit in French.

The photographs attached below shows logos & "trademarks" on Le-Petit :

Apart from the Japanese wordings that are engraved on the side of Le-Petit, the gold-tone bell with heart-shaped holes in the form of an opening at the bottom shaped like a  double-edged oar is another signature accessory that came with him :

The Photograph attached below shows a photo-shot of Le-Petit with details of Kimura Ohshido's history & Japanese crafts printed in Japanese language on the reverse of Siri Paradise's name card.

 

 

Le-Petit is in fact a snow white & light coloured cat when seen in real person.  The photographs below would show him in his coat of pristine white porcelain, adorned with floral themed intricacies.  And associated with femininity. 

 

Perhaps the creator of this style of cat had refrained from placing flowers on top of its head like in Sakura's case as it'll be overdone up since its body is already embellished with plenty of flowers. 

 

However, I'm sticking to my guns and calling Le-Petit a male cat.  Hah! :)

 

 



 

 

Here are more photographs of Le-Petit, beautified further with the use of our camera and pilxr.com's editing tools :



As the saying goes that old habits die hard, I hate to admit that I'm currently obsessed with fortune cats and got myself other Maneki-neko 招き猫 products from Jacy of Siri Paradise ... much to the resignation of Hubby Dearest even though he was equally in love with our brood of fortune cats.

So stay tuned for my other upcoming blogging entries on Maneki-neko 招き猫 ...

さようなら (Sayonara) for now!

Maneki-neko 招き猫 (Part III) : Sakura --- Candid Camera

Sakura is currently seated right on my desk & I can't deny the fact that she is indeed adorable looking and too eye-catching to be neglected by anybody seated at the desk or standing nearby.

 

She has received lot's of compliments from visitors with her plump figure & those colourful auspicious symbols adorning her white porcelain body.  The pretty smile on her face makes me smile & laugh at times.  Kawaii!

 

I had taken several snapshots of Sakura and used Pilxr.com to edit a couple of them, playing around mostly with the tone of colour for these photographs...

 

 

 

If there are any new photographs of Sakura that are worth uploading after fanciful editing, I would be uploading in this blogging entry.

 

So for those of you who are interested, please stay tuned for more photographs (if any) in the near future...

 

ありがとう! (Thank You)

 

Maneki-neko 招き猫 (Part II) : Sakura --- Two's a company, Three's a crowd or a charm?

This is a sequel to Maneki-neko 招き猫 (Part I) where I have mentioned acquiring two porcelain fortune cats, namely a male & female.

Shortly after purchasing this cat couple and placing them on top of our shoe cabinet, I had been wanting to stop at just 2 relatively large fortune cats (19 cm & above) to avoid clutter in our home.

However, I couldn't resist this purchase when I came across such a cute lil' cat & ended up buying a supposedly up-market version of fortune cat which came with a certification.

 

I am happy with my purchase even though the seller has mentioned to me that it was a display set & I proudly present this new addition to our humble family of fortune cats.

As you could see from the photograph above, I bought another she-cat. 

She comes with certification.  Apart from the certificate, there are no serial numbers identifying the cat and no engravings that gives rise to any indication that it's made in Japan.

Bearing in mind that I am new to the world of fortune cats, I am ignorant where accreditations & authentications of such products are concerned. 

The bottom of the cat looks like this with a red stamp that's embossed onto the white porcelain:

* (I kept the fortune cat in the box that came with it after a tired day of photography & am simply too lazy to bring it out again.  As such, I used the photograph that had been sent to me on iphone by seller during the negotiating process prior to purchase.)

Nevertheless, I am a willing buyer whose happy with my purchase.  And the seller, Serene, is a personable & approachable young lady whose a very young & budding entrepreneur.

For those of you who are willing to pay more for fortune cats, please touch base with Serene at the following link:
http://www.olx.com.sg/japanese-fortune-cat-iid-309181135

For easy reference, I would refer to this she-cat as Sakura since she is adorned with Sakura embellishments from top to toe.

Despite being a display set, she's in great condition.  The 2 huge jingle bells are also looking good without any tarnishing that's visible to myself & Hubby Dearest.  She's definitely a worthy addition to the family.

 

Sakura's body is pretty well-made but smaller built as compared to Peony.  Weight-wise, she is also heavier than Koban though lighter than Peony.

Like in Peony & Koban's case, Sakura came to us with a quintessential accessory - a cushion pillow for her to sit on.  While I didn't notice any difference to the fabric between her pillow & that of Peony's, Sakura's was larger & thicker as I guess that there's more polyfill found in there.

Sewing for Sakura's pillow differed too.  The centre of her fat pillow had a depression made using a bunch of red threads that were tied into a dead knot (right at the top) where Sakura would be sitting on.  Please refer to the photographs for illustrations.

If I do a comparison of Sakura & Peony by placing them side by side, I could see an obvious difference to the colour tone of white porcelain.

Sakura looked really white whereas Peony's white porcelain had a creamy tone to it.  Sakura seemed to "glow" a lot more in her pristine coat of white porcelain even though Peony had a thicker glaze painted over her body. 

I had tried my best to capture this colour difference between the white porcelain for both she-cats in this photograph but the difference is a lot more obvious in reality:

Let's take a closer look at the embellishments that are found on Sakura.

Bells
The huge jingle bells that Sakura are carrying are characterised by a double-bladed oar-like opening at the base but you could see that they were heart-shaped holes.
* (the red cord strings were a different type from Peony's too when comparisons are made)

There are such cats with similar representations as Sakura, holding onto large jingle bells with the same heart-shaped openings at the base.

In Peony's case, hers didn't come with such heart-shaped holes at the bottom of bell.

Sakura Blossoms
Not unlike in Peony's case, Sakura's head is adorned with flowers depicting Sakura flowers too.  The difference is that flowers made of dark pink fabric & white plastic stigmas which are rolled into a miniature bouquet using white paper tape.  It was completed with a little bow made of gold-coloured thread.

 Sakura does look gorgeous with the sakura blossoms atop her head.

As her name has suggested, she has many Sakura-themed embellishments which are shown clearly in this photograph.

However, I do not have any idea what that bunch of willow-like flowers are & what they represent.  They look nice on Sakura though!

I see similar auspicious intricacies at the back of Sakura & they are similar to those of Peony's.  However, the colouring on these symbols on Sakura are a lot more vibrant & saturated in terms of colour tone.

I loved how the yellow flower is protruding right above Sakura's fleshy short tail.  It reminded me of a bustled gown worn by ladies during the Victorian era.

Given that my flat isn't large enough to make way for too many fortune cats, I had been telling myself that Sakura would be the last cat I am getting for ourselves.

As the saying goes that two's a company, three's a crowd ... Or is three's a charm?

Anyways, I displayed both Peony & Koban side by side on top of the shoe cabinet.  Aren't they cute?  Kawaii!

Sakura is still kept away in the box that came with it when I bought from the seller.  My home is a very dusty place that's subject to "desert storms".  As such, I'm saving her for our new home which hopefully wouldn't be that dusty as our current home.

Perhaps I will remain a passive buyer of miniature fortune cats in the near future.  But let's keep it a secret from Hubby Dearest whose hot after my heels for adopting so many fortune cats within such a short span of time.  Shhhhh ... :D

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Disclaimer:

Kindly note that this blogging article is created strictly for the purpose of sharing my humble & objective views of products sold by the seller.

 

I am not affiliated to the seller mentioned in this blogging entry. 

 

Reader's discretion is therefore sought when viewing this thread and making any purchases from the seller.

 

Thank you for your kind understanding.