# Frog

蛙 kaeru

![Frog](https://www.furoshiki.com/motifs/kaeru.svg)

Kaeru also means "return" (帰る), so frogs are carried for a safe return home and for lost money or luck to come back.

Wordplay-based charm; no single dated origin

The luck of the frog rests on the pun between kaeru 'frog' and kaeru 'return': a safe return from a journey, or money and luck coming back. Frog figures were carried by travellers and placed at shrines for these wishes. Frogs also appear in Japanese art, but the charm meaning is folk custom rather than a dated tradition.

Small frog charms are kept in wallets; towns such as Gero (Gifu) have adopted the frog as a mascot and even built a frog shrine in 2010.

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Source: https://www.furoshiki.com/motifs/kaeru/