Hikonyan, Japan’s beloved samurai helmet-wearing cat mascot, turns 20

OTSU, Japan – Hikonyan, Japan’s beloved samurai helmet-wearing cat mascot from Hikone in Shiga Prefecture, turned 20 on Monday, with a special commemorative event held at the city’s landmark castle to mark the occasion.

Widely regarded as having sparked Japan’s “yuru-kyara” local mascot boom, Hikonyan has become one of the country’s most popular regional characters.

Hikonyan’s birthday is considered to be April 13, the date on which its name was chosen, and it is listed as such in a special entry for the character in Hikone’s resident registry.

The mascot is modeled on a cat that, according to legend, beckoned Ii Naotaka, the second lord of the Hikone Domain in western Japan, to a temple gate, saving him from a thunderstorm.

Wearing a red helmet that recalls the Ii clan’s symbol during Japan’s Sengoku warring states period, Hikonyan was created in 2006 as the image character for a 2007 festival marking the 400th anniversary of the construction of Hikone Castle.