The Words
The decoder ring for every name in the shop. Short, because we only use words we can explain.
Every product here is named after a real Japanese word, and the palette comes from Japan's traditional colour names. This page is the decoder ring. It is short, because we only use words we can explain.
The products
花火 hanabi
Fireworks. Literally "flower fire." Our wand set carries it for the burst of shapes on one handle, and for what happens when the right attachment crosses a cat's field of view.
なでなで nadenade
The word for petting, the way you'd say it to the cat while doing it. Our grooming arch carries it because that is what your cat is doing to it at four in the morning, entirely without your help.
ごろごろ gorogoro
The sound a cat makes when things are going well. Japanese has rich onomatopoeia for textures and states, and this one is purring. Our slow-feed bowl carries it as a statement of intent.
桜 sakura
Cherry blossom. The season Japan plans picnics around, and the soft pink in our palette and our collar sets.
The mascot
招き猫 maneki-neko
The beckoning cat. The ceramic figure with one paw raised that sits by the till in shops across Japan, inviting good fortune in. It has been the patron of shopkeepers for a couple of centuries, which made it the obvious mascot for a supply company. The raised paw on our crest is an invitation: come in, good things happen here.
The colours
藍 ai
Japan's indigo, the deep blue of traditional dye work. Our primary colour.
生成り kinari
Undyed. The warm off-white of raw, unbleached fabric. The ground everything else sits on.
山吹 yamabuki
The gold of the kerria flower, and the colour of the koban coin our maneki-neko holds.
墨 sumi
Ink. The warm black of calligraphy ink, which we use instead of pure black because pure black looks cheap on kinari.
One more, for later
木天蓼 matatabi
Silvervine. A vine that grows in the mountains of Japan and East Asia, famous for what it does to cats. Roughly one in three cats don't respond to catnip at all; most of them respond to matatabi. It is not in the shop yet. It is on the roadmap, and cats are patient about exactly nothing, so we are working on it.
木天蓼 is coming.
Silvervine. Roughly one in three cats don't respond to catnip, and most of them respond to this. It is on the roadmap, and cats are patient about exactly nothing.