Hikonyan

Hikonyan (ひこにゃん) is a mascot created by the city government of Hikone, Japan. He was created in 2007 to mark the 400th anniversary of the founding of Hikone Castle. The character design is derived from a legend concerning Ii Naotaka, the 3rd Lord of Hikone. The Daimyo was beckoned by a white cat to seek shelter from a storm in a temple, and thus saved from a lightning strike. In Japanese, "nyan" is an onomatopoeia for a cat’s meow. Hikonyan's samurai helmet is based on a Ii family helmet currently in the Hikone Castle museum.