Japanese Pattern Quiz

Karakusa (Arabesque Vines)

Curling and twining your vines together, you reach toward where you want to grow.

RoundedConnectSet a destination

Karakusa is a pattern showing climbing vines growing in curves and spreading as they twine together. The tips of the vines always point the way they're growing, so even within the pattern there's a flow that shows which way it's heading. It's said to have come to Japan from the continent across the sea, and in Japan it's also well known as the pattern on furoshiki, the cloths used for wrapping and carrying things.

Because the vines keep growing without a break, karakusa has long been considered a pattern carrying wishes for long life and prosperity. You, too, change how you go about things to suit the moment, link things together, and reach out toward where you want to grow.

Even as it heads toward its destination, a vine curls around and takes detours. You, too, can find yourself linking up with somewhere unexpected on your way to a goal. Now and then, if you remember where the vine is rooted and where you want it to reach, what you've spread out keeps its shape.

Strengths

You can change your approach flexibly to suit the situation
You can find unexpected connections between separate things
Once you've decided where you want to grow, you can get there even by a roundabout way

Where you may stumble

As you keep linking things up, the detours end up longer than the route
Where a set procedure is required, you tend to feel confined
With tasks that carry on with no set end, you can't see a goal and your attention scatters

Sounds familiar, Karakusa (Arabesque Vines)?

You decide where a story's going before you start telling it, but the detours along the way end up longer
The P.S. on your letters and messages is longer than the message itself
When you hear someone's name, you're off on a tangent: “I know another person with that name, and…”

Where you shine

Brainstorming new ideas, or connecting separate people and things — that's when the vines you send out can produce unexpected combinations.

Tips for “Karakusa (Arabesque Vines)”

Before you branch out, write down the root purpose in one line
Narrow the directions you're growing in to one or two at a time
For tasks you keep up, place small goals along the way

Matches

See every match in the Japanese Pattern Quiz compatibility chart →

Easy together

Shippo (Seven Treasures) — Shippo also links things together to suit the moment. Shippo keeps tying Karakusa's growing vines down with the same circles again and again, so what you've spread out doesn't fall apart.

Easy together

Asanoha (Hemp Leaf) — Asanoha also links things together and heads toward a destination. Karakusa tends to curl off on detours, and Asanoha draws a straight plan for it, so the direction you're growing in becomes clear.

May clash

Ichimatsu (Checkerboard) — Ichimatsu separates things and keeps up the steps it's set at the same steady pace. Karakusa wants to grow by linking things to suit the moment; Ichimatsu wants to keep a neat arrangement — so you tend to clash both in how you proceed and in how you spread out.