Japanese Pattern Quiz

Chidori (Plovers)

One bird at a time, round and light, you fly over rough waves toward the shore ahead.

RoundedOne by oneSet a destination

Chidori is a pattern of plovers — small birds that live by the water — drawn in flight in rounded shapes and scattered across the design. It's well known combined with waves as “nami-chidori” (waves and plovers), and has long been used on tenugui cotton hand towels and on tableware. Each bird is drawn clearly apart from the others, and every one faces the way it's headed.

Because the plovers are pictured crossing over rough waves, the pattern has long been considered to carry a wish to overcome hardships. It's also said to be lucky because “chidori” can be heard as “taking a thousand.” You, too, lightly break things into separate pieces and fly toward your destination, reading the wind as you go.

Since each bird can fly off lightly on its own, staying long in one place may not be your strong suit. You, too, start thinking about your next destination as soon as you reach one shore. Before you take off, leave a word about what you gained on the shore where you are, and the distance you've flown becomes your own strength.

Strengths

You can lightly take care of things one at a time and move on to the next destination
You can read the situation and change your direction or your approach
Once you know where you're going, you can head even somewhere new without hesitating

Where you may stumble

As soon as you arrive, you're off to the next thing, and follow-through on the last one gets thin
Where you have to keep to a set procedure for a long time, you tend to feel confined
With projects that carry on with no set end, your mind tends to drift toward what's next

Sounds familiar, Chidori (Plovers)?

When you go out, you pack small, taking only what you'll use where you're going
Even on a day off with no plans, you pick one place to go in the morning and head out
Before you go out, you put your destination into a map app before stepping out the door

Where you shine

An outing with a clear destination, or a situation where you need to change how you move to fit the circumstances — that's when your lightness can open up new paths.

Tips for “Chidori (Plovers)”

Before you move on, write down in a line what you gained from what you're doing now
For work you keep up over time, set a few small goals along the way
Where many things move forward linked together, ask for an overall map first

Matches

See every match in the Japanese Pattern Quiz compatibility chart →

Easy together

Seigaiha (Blue Ocean Waves) — Seigaiha also goes with the moment and treasures each shape on its own. To Chidori, flying from place to place, Seigaiha's gently continuing waves are like somewhere to come back to, where someone will listen at leisure to stories from your travels.

Easy together

Yagasuri (Arrow Feathers) — Yagasuri also breaks things into separate pieces and heads for its destination. Chidori tends to change direction on the spot, and Yagasuri shows it a straight plan, so your flight path wobbles less.

May clash

Kikko (Tortoiseshell) — Kikko links things together without gaps according to the plan, and keeps the same shape going for a long time. Chidori wants to fly lightly to its destination one thing at a time; Kikko wants to keep a shape that doesn't crumble — so neither your speed nor your way of linking things tends to mesh.