mitsubishi trivia

"Mitsubishi" and the Famous Three-Diamond Mark

The name "Mitsubishi" refers to the three-diamond emblem.
"Mitsubishi" is a combination of the words mitsu and hishi. Mitsu means three. Hishi means water chestnut, and Japanese have used the word for a long time to denote a rhombus or diamond shape. Japanese often bend the "h" sound to a "b" sound when it occurs in the middle of a word. So they pronounce the combination of mitsu and hishi as mitsubishi.


Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of the old Mitsubishi organization, chose the three-diamond mark as the emblem for his company. The mark is suggestive of the three-leaf crest of the Tosa Clan, Yataro's first employer, and also of the three stacked rhombuses of the Iwasaki family crest.

Three Tosa leaves join three stacked rhombuses to become
three red jewels.

Sooooo, I am really programming a three water chestnut FX1N

I may be wrong, but I do recall a reference to the Mitsubishi 3 diamond emblem being associated with three blades of a ships propeller.
This was based on the fact, as it was stated at the time, that the Mitsubishi company was originaly a Ship building firm.

However, I prefer the Tosa Clan version of the emblem origin!