Gotoku-ji

By the temple's own telling, the maneki-neko story begins here. Ii Naotaka, lord of the Hikone domain, was riding home from hawking when a cat at the gate beckoned him in. A thunderstorm broke while he sat talking with the priest, and he was so taken with his luck that he backed the temple; the Ii made it their family temple in Edo in 1633, and in 1659 it was renamed after Naotaka's posthumous title. Today shelves of white beckoning cats, mostly left by people whose wishes came true, crowd the Shofuku-den hall. Look closely: they raise the right paw and hold no gold coin, because the temple teaches that the cat brings you connections, not money itself. To take one home, buy it at the temple office, open 8:00 to 15:00, where prices run from 500 to 10,000 yen and some sizes sell out. The temple asks visitors not to write on the cats. The grounds are free and open 6:00 to 17:00. Count the cats hidden among the zodiac carvings on the 22.5 m three-story pagoda, then find the Ii family graves, a national historic site that includes Ii Naosuke, the shogunate's chief minister. Ride the Tokyu Setagaya Line, a small two-car line from Sangen-jaya, to Miyanosaka; it is a five-minute walk.