Sukki, Nokki, Lekki and Tsukki, also known as the Snowlets, are the mascots of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano and are four snowy owls. They represent respectively fire (Sukki), air (Nokki), earth (Lekki) and water (Tsukki), and together they represent the four major islands of Japan. The choice of four mascots is a nod to the four years that make up an Olympiad. In addition, the first two letters of the four names form the word "snowlets". The first two letters of each of the other owls' names spell out the second part of "snowlets", being "lets". "Snow" recalls the winter season, during which the Games take place, and "lets" refers to "let's", an invitation to join in the Games celebrations. "Owlets" means young owls. The four Snowlets' names were chosen from among 47,484 suggestions. The mascots are a creation of

Landor Associates Landor is a brand consulting firm founded in 1941 by Walter Landor, who pioneered some research, design, and consulting methods that the branding industry still uses. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company maintains 26 offices in 20 count ...

. The agency responsible for creating the mascots was the same one that designed the torch for the Atlanta Games in 1996, and also took part in designing the mascots for Salt Lake City 2002.Olympic Winter Games Mascots from Innsbruck 1976 to Sochi 2014
Olympic.org Owls are venerated around the world as having the "wisdom of the woods"; in

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

, the owl is associated with

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

, the goddess of wisdom. Originally, the mascot for the 1998 Winter Olympics was going to be a

weasel Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender bo ...

called Snowple.

Notes

1998 Winter Olympics Olympic mascots Fictional owls Fictional Japanese people Fictional characters from Chūbu {{1998-winter-Olympic-stub

See also

Notes