# Lightning

稲妻 inazuma

![Lightning](https://www.furoshiki.com/swatches/inazuma.svg)

Zigzag lightning. It was believed to make rice ripen (ina-zuma, 'the rice's spouse'), so it wishes for a good harvest.

Folk belief, ancient; used on samurai battle curtains

The word inazuma ('rice spouse') reflects an old belief that lightning fertilised the rice, so flashes in late summer promised a good harvest. The angular zigzag inazuma pattern was used on samurai battle curtains (jinmaku), and is closely related to the Chinese square spiral (raimon) of which it is sometimes treated as a variation.

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Source: https://www.furoshiki.com/patterns/inazuma/