No one can quite agree as to how the first Maneki Neko came to be. However, most will agree that Lucky Cats first appeared during the Edo period in Japan (17th century to mid-19th century). 🐱 The kanji on the coin is quite common on Japanese Maneki Neko coins (the coin is called a koban). It reads “sen man ryo”, which means 1,000 X 10,000 ryo. So that's 10,000,000 ryo. A ryo is the name of a gold coin that was used in Japan in the Edo period, and 10,000,000 of them was a huge fortune at that time. 🐱 What Maneki Neko Means A Maneki Neko, aka a Lucky Cat or Fortune Cat in Japanese, which means “beckoning cat.” The cat has raised its paw as if it's waving in good fortune for its owners.