Hattatsu-mairi is practised at Sumiyoshi Taisha since the Meiji era: on the first Dragon day of each month, worshippers visit four sub-shrines in a set order and receive a small beckoning cat at Nankun-sha, left paw in odd months and right paw in even. Forty-eight cats over four years are exchanged for a medium cat; the full cycle to "great fulfilment" takes 24 years.
Why it's unique
This is a local ritual that exists only at Sumiyoshi Taisha: a monthly circuit with a 4-year and a 24-year arc, kept by Osaka shopkeepers.
What you do is join it on a Dragon day, ideally at dawn alongside the shopkeepers who come before work, and start your own row of cats.
Before you go
The order is Tanekashi-sha (take the "seed money"), Nankun-sha (the cats), Asazawa-sha, then Ōtoshi-sha. Counters open at 6:00 and Osaka shopkeepers come before work, so the dawn hour is the local one. You can buy a cat on other days, but it does not count.
While there, pick a stone marked 五, 大 or 力 from the Gosho Gozen enclosure and return it with a thank-you pebble when your wish comes true.
