Why Toyota's Name Takes Eight Strokes
The character for eight widens toward the bottom, a shape linked to prosperity that grows over time.
The Tim Ferriss Show · Lucky #888 — My Tour of Designing Luck in China, Japan, and KoreaThe founding family name was Toyoda, with a D, while the car company is Toyota, with a T. The Toyota spelling is linked to luck because writing it in katakana takes eight strokes.
Katakana is one of the writing systems used in Japan for spelling out sounds. Counting strokes means counting each separate line made with pen on paper, and for Toyota those lines add up to eight, a total regarded as a sign of riches and lucky fate.
Eight also looks lucky in Japanese. The character for eight, pronounced hachi, is made of two strokes that begin close together at the top and spread apart toward the bottom, like an upside down V with the tip removed.
That spreading outline came to stand for success that increases with time. Japanese has a word for this fortunate spreading, suehirogari, in which sue points to what lies ahead and hirogari points to growth.
The picture is familiar from a Japanese folding fan, which starts narrow at the handle and opens outward into a wider curve. Suehirogari applies that same widening shape to hopes for business, family, and the future.
Eights keep turning up elsewhere in Japan as well. The Shikoku pilgrimage, with its own religious history, visits 88 Buddhist temples associated with the monk Kukai, also known as Kobo Daishi, a number that is itself two eights.
Questions people ask
How do you get eight strokes from Toyota?
In katakana, Toyota is written with three characters, and each character is made of separate pen strokes. Added together, they total eight strokes, and Japanese fortune traditions treat that total as auspicious for wealth.
Does suehirogari mean more than the shape of eight?
It describes any happy pattern in which things start narrow and expand toward the future. Beyond numbers and writing, it is often linked to the shape of an opening fan, and to hopes for family success, business growth, and good endings.
What is the Shikoku pilgrimage?
It is a long walking circuit around the island of Shikoku that visits 88 Buddhist temples. The route honors Kukai, the influential monk also known as Kobo Daishi, and draws pilgrims from across Japan.