A woman bent down to look inside the Gotoku-ji temple's Buddha hall

Woman peering into the Gotoku-ji Temple's Buddha hall — Woman looking into the Buddha Hall

Gotoku-ji Temple in Setagaya is a historical temple that is the family temple of Ii Naosuke's Ii family, which appears in Japanese history textbooks. After the Battle of Sekigahara was over and Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Edo Shogunate in 1633, this area became the property of the Hikone domain, and the Ii family, the lords of the Hikone domain, designated this temple, which was built in 1480, as their family temple. Since then, 400 years have passed. Gotoku-ji still has a Buddha hall built in 1677, cultural artifacts of the Ii family, and the grave of Ii Naosuke, who was assassinated in the Sakuradamon Incident, all of which give the temple an air of a historic temple.

However, most visitors do not come here for the old Buddhist temple, the three-story pagoda, or the grave of the Ii family. Most come for the beckoning cat (Maneki-neko, lucky cat). There are many theories as to which one is true, but one theory is that Gotoku-ji Temple is the birthplace of the beckoning cat. Therefore, there is a building called "Manekineko hall" in the grounds of Gotoku-ji Temple, in which beckoning cats are enshrined, and beckoning cats dedicated to the temple are displayed next to and behind the hall. Dedication of beckoning cats seems to be popular, and the number of beckoning cats increases every time I visit the temple. I think they used to be only on the side of the hall, but now they are lined up along the path behind the hall. At this rate of proliferation, the grounds of Gotoku-ji Temple are sure to be filled with beckoning cats in the not-too-distant future.

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