Owl

梟 fukurō

Owl

Fukurō can be written 不苦労, 'no hardship', so the owl is a luck charm for a trouble-free life.

Modern lucky-charm reading; owls long seen as ill-omened

In older Chinese and Japanese texts the owl was a bad omen, an 'unfilial' bird, and in the kyōgen play Fukurō yamabushi it possesses a man. Its luck-charm image rests on wordplay: fukurō can be written 不苦労 ('no hardship') or 福籠 ('basket of fortune'). This positive reading became popular in modern times, and owl figures are now common souvenirs and gifts.

A popular good-luck gift motif.

Technique catalog · draft for review

Every way to wrap, carry and wear a furoshiki.

The furoshiki.com archive, sliced into annotated steps with plain directions, plus techniques found in research.