NEO MANEKINEKO

While visiting New York, Koga spotted a "Manekineko" (beckoning cat) in a shop with seemingly no connection to Japan.
This series was inspired by the surprise of encountering something whose presence stood out even within a foreign culture.
Koga's style is based on the classical forms of Japanese art.
The signature Hoyoroi Cup series takes the "kawari-kabuto" (eccentric helmets) of Sengoku-era warlords as its motif, while reimagining them as contemporary forms, and
To that, Koga adds his perspective on contemporary society as a “concept.”
The same holds true for this work as well.
The Manekineko, while based on a typical form, wears the Hoyoroi Cup — a sake cup meant to inspire ambitious young people.
Also painted on the maneki-neko are nothing but positive words rendered in graffiti style — "Get Stand Up," "Stay Gold," "Silver Lining," and more.
This is something Koga offers to a world suffering under the pandemic.
In this way, this work inherits the role long carried by the "maneki-neko" while adding new elements, updating it into a new maneki-neko for the present day.

Available since July 2025 through furusato nozei (hometown tax donation program, Masuda).