千鳥
THE MEANINGS WOVEN IN
chidori
A wish to fly out over wide water, and find the shore again.
Plover
Journeys and returns →01
Where it comes from
Chidori are plovers, small birds of beaches and riverbanks, and most of them travel with the seasons. The name, written with the characters for a thousand birds, first meant countless birds, for plovers fly together in flocks. Geese keep to neat lines in the sky, but plovers scatter and gather as they please, and that free flight is what the pattern shows. On the tidal flats, a god was once imagined arriving with the waves, followed by plovers flying in.
02
On the cloth
Plovers are often drawn with waves and shores. In one court dance, the dancers wear a robe of plovers over a robe patterned with waves. On obi, they join waves, fish, and shells, or a shoreline with pine and seaweed, as small marks in a seaside landscape.
03
To give
Plovers suit someone setting off: a move, study far away, a long trip. It is a gift for someone you hope will find their way back to the shore.
A word to keep
群千鳥
murachidori
A flock of plovers. The name for plovers drawn flying together in numbers.
Two questions
What does the Plover (千鳥) pattern mean?
A wish to fly out over wide water, and find the shore again. Plovers suit someone setting off: a move, study far away, a long trip.
Where does the 千鳥 pattern come from?
Chidori are plovers, small birds of beaches and riverbanks, and most of them travel with the seasons. The name, written with the characters for a thousand birds, first meant countless birds, for plovers fly together in flocks.
