How to Take the Cat Train to Gotokuji Temple
Gotokuji Temple, known as the lucky cat temple, is a fun temple to visit in Tokyo. It is known to be the birth place of Maneki Neko (or lucky cats). Besides visiting the ceramic lucky cat dolls themselves, another cool thing to do is to catch the lucky cat themed train on the way to the temple.
I was fortunate enough to take the lucky cat tram to visit Gotokuji Temple during my trip to Tokyo. But it is by no chance that I stumbled upon the cat tram, as I had researched a ton to find the tram schedule. In this post, I will not only show you how to take the Cat Tram but also my complete guide to visit the Gotokuji Temple.
How to Get to Gotokuji Temple
Gotokuji Temple is a Buddhist temple located in the neighborhood of Setagaya, west of central Tokyo.
There are 2 ways of reaching Gotokuji Temple from central Tokyo:
- Take the Odakyu Line from Shinjuku Station to Gotokuji Station, then walk 12 minutes
- Take the Den-en-toshi Line to Sangenjaya Station, walk 5 minutes to transfer to the Tokyu-Setagaya Line, an overground tram line to Miyanosaka Station, then walk 4 minutes
The Cat tram is on the Tokyu-Setagaya Line, so if you want to take that tram, you will need to take option 2. Since Cat is “neko” in Japanese and tram is “densya”, the name of the Cat Tram is NekoDensya.
Finding the Lucky Cat Train at Sangenjaya Station
When you get off the subway Den-en-toshi Line at Sangenjaya Station, you will need to walk a bit to reach the tram station with the same name.
When you exit from the station, you will need to head towards the West Gate. Since the station is outside, you will need to take the stairs to exit to Street (look at the screenshot below).
Once you are outside, continue to walk straight until you see signs for Setagaya Line Sangenjaya Station and go to Platform 1. There will be turnstiles at the station for you to tap your IC card.
You can wait on the platform for the cat tram. Even though there will be a ton of other regular trams that go by every few minutes, you don’t need to get on. I just sat on the chair and waited for the scheduled cat train when I was there.
Gotokuji Temple Lucky Cat Tram Schedule
The lucky cat tram is not running all the time. Most of the time you will see an ordinary tram train and occasionally trams with other designs.
Previously when I tried to look up the lucky cat tram schedule, all I found was the main website but no particular schedule. But recently I’ve been able to find the actual schedule for the cat tram.
The schedule of the Cat Tram changes everyday, sometimes with no trains in the morning and sometimes with a ton of them all day. Even on the days with the Cat Tram, times are different from day to day. But in general, the earliest lucky cat tram starts after 7 and there is one or two every hour.
The Lucky Cat Tram schedule is on the official website.
If you plan to visit Gotokuji Temple, then definitely plan your trip around the cat train schedule to avoid disappointments.
Riding the Cat Train to Gotokuji Temple
The Cat tram is well decorated inside and outside. On the outside, the front of the train is painted with the face of the cat. The side of the trains (besides the actual doors) are painted with a few white lucky cats with their paws up and the word “Welcome”.
On the inside of the tram the floors have cat paw prints and the handles, or grab rails, look like a cat head with one of its paws up.
Besides the grab rails and floor, the tram looks the same inside as other trains.
If you are getting on at the Sangenjaya Station, when you get off the train you don’t need to tap your IC card again. You can just walk right off the train and get on the street. But when you get back on the train to come back, I think you will need to tap your IC card on the reader inside the train as there’s no turnstiles at most of the stations along the route.
My visit to the Gotokuji Temple
Gotokuji Temple has long been on my to-do list for Tokyo and I finally had the chance to visit after years of wanting to go. I had read before that it’s best to visit Gotokuji Temple early in the morning for a few reasons:
- You can get photos with the lucky cats without people
- There is a risk of the lucky cats being sold out later in the day
Due to the 2 reasons above, I got to Gotokuji Temple around 8:30am. Keep in mind that the temple office opens from 8am to 12pm and 1pm to 3pm.
The temple is bigger than I had imagined and the lucky cat portion is only a small area within the temple complex. You will most likely be entering the temple from Sanmon, which means a gate built to separate the outside world and the precinct.
The first thing I saw after walking through Sanmon was Butsu-den, a traditional Buddha hall. On the left hand side was Sanju-no-to, the 3 story pagoda that enshrines 4 statues of Buddhas. If you visit during fall foliage, then this would be a pretty nice photo spot.
Before I reached Butsu-den, I made a left turn and followed the road for a couple of minutes before seeing Shofuku-den, where the lucky cats (or Manekineko) are located.
The courtyard that houses the lucky cats is not very obvious, and the only sign giving it away is the statue of a cat in front the entrance. There are only two small areas with the manekineko, and I read that all the cats here are donated.
Purchasing a lucky cat (Manekineko doll) at Gotokuji Temple
Besides taking photos with the hundreds of manekineko, a really cool thing you can do is to buy a Manekineko doll and other amulets and souvenirs.
But the maneki neko dolls are not just cute to look at, they are actually cats that are supposed to bring fortune, prosperity and longevity. All of the maneki nekos have one of their paws raised, which supposed to beckon customers to spend money at a business establishments (and attract fortune into a household). You are supposed to pray to the maneki nekos before taking one home
The temple office (in the same courtyard) sells different sizes of manekineko dolls, ranging from 500 yen to 7000 yen. There is also a vending machine outside of the office with the same dolls and amulets, Ema and other souvenirs.
The vending machine takes credit cards (although I couldn’t get it to work) and the office takes cash only. Each person can only purchase one Manekineko doll.
When I went to visit, 3 sizes of the dolls were left despite being there at 8:30am, so I think they just never bothered to restock the other sizes. I got a size 2, which is a relatively small sized doll so I could easily transport it home.
Besides the Manekineko doll, I also got an Ema, where you can write your wishes down and hang it at the shrine, and a Goshuin, a stamped paper that shows you have visited the temple. The temple office also sells key rings, chopsticks and other souvenirs.
Besides visiting the lucky cats, there wasn’t much else to do at the shrine for me. Half of the shrine consists of cemeteries, which I don’t think a tourist would visit.
Other Things to Do near Gotokuji Temple
When I was planning this trip, I had researched things to do in Setagaya outside of this temple. Some of these would require a bus ride but the neighborhood is definitely getting more popular as more people visit.
- Rarasand: This is a cafe not too far from the temple and they sell lucky cat shaped snacks.
- Shoin Shrine: A Shinto Shrine dedicated to a Shinto scholar
- Shiro-Hige’s Cream Puff Factory: This cafe is known for its Totoro shaped cream puffs. This is one of the two locations near Tokyo (the other one is in Kichijoji, where I got my cream puff from)
- Sangenjaya Gorilla Building: An instagram famous building that has a large King Kong figurine on top of a Family Mart. You can come here first before taking the cat train to Gotokuji Temple
- Shimokitazawa: This is a trendy neighborhood that has a lot of great restaurants, cafes and vintage 2nd hand stores.
I personally went to explore Kichijoji, another trendy neighborhood outside of Tokyo that’s close to the Ghibli Museum.
