About 400 years ago in Edo Japana samurai lord was riding homethrough a sudden thunderstorm.He passed a tiny, run-down temple.At the gate sat a small white cat.The cat raised its paw at him.Almost like it was waving him over.Curious, he turned his horse.He stepped under the temple roof.A heartbeat later,lightning struck the roadexactly where he had been standing.He survived because of a catthat beckoned him in.He spent the rest of his lifemaking sure that templenever went hungry again.The temple is Gotokuji.It still stands today, in Tokyo.That cat became the maneki-neko —the lucky catyou’ve seen in every Asian restaurantin the world.It started as one catsaving one man’s lifeon a stormy afternoon.