Via The Huffington Post:
The Lucky Cat figurine represents a cat sitting upright with her front paws lifted in a gesture of invitation (in Japanese the figurine is called maneki neko, the “inviting cat”) and it is usually placed in front of stores looking as if it is inviting customers to step inside. Besides people, the figurine is also believed to be calling in good fortune.
Back in the 1400s, the seven gods of fortune, Daikokuten, Ebisu, Bishamonten, Benzaiten, Fukurokuju, Jurōjin, and Hotei, were adopted as symbols of happiness and fortune. They are rooted in various foreign religious traditions, such as Indian Hinduism and Buddhism, and Chinese Taoism. Ebisu, however, originates in the Japanese tradition, where he is the god of commerce and agriculture.
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