# Blue ocean waves

青海波 seigaiha

![Blue ocean waves](https://www.furoshiki.com/swatches/seigaiha.svg)

Endless overlapping waves wish for a calm, peaceful life that continues forever; named after a gagaku court dance and suitable all year, including celebrations.

Continental wave motif; in Japan from ancient times, named in the Heian/Edo periods

Overlapping arcs depicted the sea on early Chinese maps, and in Japan the motif already appears on a haniwa figure from Gunma. Its name comes from the gagaku court dance Seigaiha, whose dancers wore it; Genji dances it in The Tale of Genji. In the Edo period the lacquerer Seikai Kanshichi devised a brush technique for it, and it spread to lacquer, mother-of-pearl inlay (popular in the Genroku era), ceramics, roof ridges and dyed textiles.

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