THE MEANINGS WOVEN IN
稲妻
inazuma
A wish for a rich harvest, the kind lightning was said to bring.
Lightning
Fortune that grows →01
Where it comes from
Inazuma takes the shape of lightning, built from straight lines that bend and turn. The word once meant the spouse of the rice, and farmers long ago believed that lightning joined the rice ears with a spirit and made them ripen. Lightning, coming with the rain, was seen as the spirit of a good harvest of grain, and the pattern became a sign of plenty. In China it is called the thunder pattern, found on pottery and bronze since ancient times, and still familiar on the dishes of Chinese restaurants.
02
On the cloth
An Edo-period story mentions an obi of inazuma weave shot through with gold. The pattern takes many forms, from the square spiral of the thunder pattern to inazuma-bishi, set in a diamond.
03
To give
Inazuma suits someone whose work is about to bear fruit. It is for a person you hope will reap what they have tended.
A word to keep
稲の夫
ina no tsuma
The rice plant's spouse. The old meaning held in the word inazuma, lightning.
Two questions
What does the Lightning (稲妻) pattern mean?
A wish for a rich harvest, the kind lightning was said to bring. Inazuma suits someone whose work is about to bear fruit.
Where does the 稲妻 pattern come from?
Inazuma takes the shape of lightning, built from straight lines that bend and turn. The word once meant the spouse of the rice, and farmers long ago believed that lightning joined the rice ears with a spirit and made them ripen.
