Another popular pattern, Yagasuri, depicts the feathers at the ends of arrows that keep them flying in a straight line. It is common for children to wear this design at graduation, the idea being that the children will go out into the world and stay there. Like a straight-flying arrow, they’ll never return. Yet recently, so many children are returning home that the Japanese have coined a new term which means “parasitic single child”.
The universe seems uninterested in following the directions clearly put forth by the Japanese in patterns and textiles. This is especially frustrating for a people who, as a rule, prefer order to chaos.