HOME > Japan’s Local Treasures > Tokoname’s Lucky Cat Street
Check out the ceramic lucky cats on this street, in a city with 1000-years of pottery history in Aichi Prefecture
Tokoname City, Aichi Prefecture
Tokoname City, Aichi Prefecture, has been a pottery-producing region since the Heian period (794-1185). Explore the Pottery Foot Path that thrived as a center for pottery factories and workshops during the early Showa period (1926-1945). It still retains its character, with scattered brick chimneys, kilns, and pathways constructed from pottery waste and decorated with pieces of ceramics.
As you walk from Tokoname Station to the Pottery Foot Path, be sure to stroll down Tokoname Lucky Cat Street, where you'll see 39 “blessed ceramic lucky cats” adorning the walls alongside the road, with an additional 11 lifelike ceramic cats placed nearby. These lucky kitties were crafted with care by 39 pottery artists in Tokoname City, each bearing its own unique blessings and aesthetic. Choose your favorite and make sure to take a photo together.
You can’t miss the “guardian cat” Tokonyan, who peeks over the top of the wall of Tokoname Lucky Cat Street. This impressively massive lucky cat is 3.8 meters tall and 6.3 meters wide.
How to get there
Take the train from Meitetsu Nagoya Station to Tokoname Station (30 minutes). Tokoname Lucky Cat Street is just a 5-minute walk from the station.
Sakae-machi, Tokoname-shi, Aichi-ken
