is a phrase used in the

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ma ...

to ward off

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

. It is analogous to the English phrase " knock on wood" to prevent bad luck or "rain rain go away". The word ''kuwabara'' literally means "

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 identif ...

field". According to one explanation, there is a Chinese legend that mulberry trees are not struck by lightning. In contrast, journalist Moku Jōya asserts that the "origin of ''kuwabara'' is not definitely known, but it has nothing to do with mulberry plants, though it means 'mulberry fields'."

In popular culture

The phrase was used in '' Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater'' by

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist. Etymology The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, riv ...

Colonel Volgin, a character with the ability to control electricity. It has also been used in various Japanese animation, including ''

Inuyasha is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from November 1996 to June 2008, with its chapters collected in fifty-six '' ...

'', ''

Urusei Yatsura is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from September 1978 to February 1987. Its 366 individual chapters were published in 34 ''tankōbon'' volum ...

'', ''

Sekirei is a Japanese manga series by Sakurako Gokurakuin. The manga was serialized in Square Enix's ''seinen'' magazine ''Young Gangan'' between December 2004 and August 2015. A sequel to the manga began serialization in the same magazine in May 201 ...

'', ''

Aku no Hana is the fifth studio album by the Japanese Rock music, rock band Buck-Tick. It was released on cassette and CD on February 1, 1990, through Victor Entertainment. It peaked at number one on the Oricon charts and is the group's best-selling album ...

'', and ''

Yu Yu Hakusho is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi. The series tells the story of Yusuke Urameshi, a teenage delinquent who is struck and killed by a car while attempting to save a child's life. After a number of te ...

''. In a well-known monologue, the ''Yu Yu Hakusho'' character Kazuma Kuwabara remarks "A mulberry is a tree and Kuwabara is a man". The phrase was also used in an episode of ''Mushi-Shi'' entitled "Lightning's End" and in ''

Street Fighter X Tekken (pronounced "Street Fighter Cross Tekken") is a crossover fighting game developed by Capcom and released in March 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in May for Microsoft Windows and in October for the PlayStation Vita. The game feature ...

'' by

Yoshimitsu is a name used by three different characters who appear in the ''Tekken'' and ''Soulcalibur'' series of fighting games by Namco. The first version of Yoshimitsu made his debut in the original ''Tekken (video game), Tekken'' in 1994. The second ...

. In the game

Genshin Impact ''Genshin Impact'' is an action role-playing game developed and published by miHoYo. It was released for Android (operating system), Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, and Windows in 2020, on PlayStation 5 in 2021, and is set for release on Nintendo ...

, one of the playable characters, the Raiden Shogun, the

archon ''Archon'' ( gr, ἄρχων, árchōn, plural: ἄρχοντες, ''árchontes'') is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem αρχ-, mean ...

of a Japanese-inspired realm called Inazuma, makes reference to this phrase in one of her voiced dialogs.

In folklore

In the 9th century, there was a Japanese aristocrat called

Sugawara no Michizane was a scholar, poet, and politician of the Heian Period of Japan. He is regarded as an excellent poet, particularly in Kanshi poetry, and is today revered in Shinto as the god of learning, . In the poem anthology ''Hyakunin Isshu'', he is known ...

. Sugawara Michizane, who died bearing a heavy grudge after being trapped and exiled to Kyushu, threw his fierce anger in the form of his thunderbolts as a god of lightning. In 930, Seiryoden of the court was struck by a large thunderbolt. The master of onmyo said that this misfortune was the work of the

vengeful spirit In mythology and folklore, a vengeful ghost or vengeful spirit is said to be the spirit of a dead person who returns from the afterlife to seek revenge for a cruel, unnatural or unjust death. In certain cultures where funeral and burial or crem ...

of Michizane. Those who trapped Michizane trembled with fear and tried to placate the curse by dedicating a prayer to his vengeful ghost, thus leading to the construction of Kitano Shrine. The land that Michizane owned was known as Kuwabara, so people thought it would be a good idea to claim the land he/she was standing on was a part of Kuwabara, so that Michizane would be hesitant to strike his own people. People of such an era chanted "Kuwabara, Kuwabara" when they heard the rumble of thunder as a method of reminding Michizane not to strike them. This saying often appears in the literature of the Heian period, with elements such as "Tsureduregusa", a spell to cast away thunder. The very people living in Kuwabara at that time relied on the Kuwabara spell and the land of Kuwabara is said to have remained unharmed by lightning for that reason.

References

*{{note, JoyaMock Joya, ''Mock Joya's Things Japanese.'' Tokyo: The Japan Times, Ltd. (1985) p. 341 Superstitions of Japan