KOTODAMA NAME
言霊 · KOTODAMA — THE SPIRIT OF A NAME

Your true name,
in kanji.

YOUR NAMEREAL, READABLE KANJIEMBROIDERED ON AN IMABARI TOWEL

In Japan, a name is believed to hold a spirit — kotodama. We read the spirit of yours: from its sound and the things you hold dear, we find the kanji that are truly you — and stitch them onto a towel woven in Imabari, Japan.

DISCOVER YOUR NAME — FREE
NO SIGN-UP · A READING IN UNDER A MINUTE · READABLE AS YOUR NAME, ALWAYS
Michael
PASSIONATE · LOVES SOCCER
1 / 4 — YOUR NAME
Jessica是紫花Michael舞蹴Priya芙梨弥Emma咲愛Liam理阿夢Sofia想凛亜AungCarlos花瑠呂洲Jessica是紫花Michael舞蹴Priya芙梨弥Emma咲愛Liam理阿夢Sofia想凛亜AungCarlos花瑠呂洲
言霊
KO·TO·DA·MA
— THE SPIRIT OF WORDS —

A name is not just a sound.
It carries a spirit.

Abroad, you sometimes meet someone wearing kanji whose meaning has gone quietly wrong. It was never their fault — the wish to carry kanji is a beautiful one. They simply had no way to be sure.

In Japan there is an old belief called kotodama: that words, and names, hold a spirit. Our oldest book of poetry, the Man'yōshū, calls this “the land where the spirit of words brings good fortune.” Every single character carries that much weight.

So we do not invent a name for you. We read the one you already carry — the way a parent, seeing a newborn's face, finds the name that was always there.

— THE READING —

Not a translation.
A reading.

Anyone can look up symbols. A reading is different: every kanji we choose can be read aloud as your name — sound first, without exception — while its meaning is chosen for who you are: your passions, your temperament, your own words. And because kotodama holds that a name shapes its bearer's path, your reading tells you one thing more: what happiness each character is believed to lead you toward.

MAI
to dance — grace in motion
KERU
to kick — swift, certain intent
舞蹴
MICHAEL
a spirit who turns sport into art
A READING, AS IT ARRIVES
是紫花
JESSICA · ジェシカ · ZE-SHI-KA
SHE TOLD US: CREATIVE · LOVES YOGA · “I DO THINGS MY OWN WAY”
“True Purple Blossom”

In 是 lives truth — the quiet certainty of a soul that knows itself. 紫, the purple of dusk, was once the color reserved for nobility. And 花, the blossom, opens without asking permission. Together they name a woman who blooms in her own color, honestly, and entirely.

— WHY A READING MATTERS —

Kanji is beautiful.
And easy to get wrong.

One character, many faces
A single kanji carries many meanings and a hundred shades of nuance. 安 means peace — it also means cheap. Choose by sound alone, and your name may quietly say something you never intended.
The internet chooses blindly
Machine translations pick characters that merely sound right. The world is full of T-shirts and tattoos that prove it — small mistakes, engraved for life.
Discernment, never an off day
Every reading is composed by our AI reader, raised on Japanese classics and a native's sense of the shade of nuance no dictionary can show. It holds the same discerning standard for every name — true to your sound, true to your story, and safe to wear for a lifetime.
— THE READER —

Raised on the classics.
Never an off day.

Your reading is composed by an AI reader we are raising the way a master raises an apprentice — on Japanese philosophy, poetry, and the quiet discipline of how each kanji feels to a cultivated native eye.

We say this openly, and for a simple reason: even a gifted human has off days. Our reader does not. It brings the same discerning standard to every single name, at any hour — and it is never weary of beginning again. Ask for another reading, and another, until one feels unmistakably yours.

And it is still growing. Season by season we deepen its learning — new readings weighed, new shades of nuance taken in. The reader that meets your name tomorrow sees a little more than the one that met it today.

今治
— WOVEN & STITCHED IN IMABARI —

A name made to last a lifetime.

01 — THE YARN
Fine 80-count thread, four times thinner than an ordinary towel's. It drinks water in a single second and lies featherlight against the skin.
02 — THE LOOMS
Vintage shuttle looms, running since before the war, weave at a fraction of modern speed. The yarn is never stressed — that is where the softness comes from.
03 — THE HAND
Your kanji is stitched by an Imabari embroidery atelier of 47 years, into cloth woven by an Imabari towel maker. Your name takes a form that will not fade.
04 — THE THREAD
Pearl Yacht rayon thread, with the soft luster of pearl. Vat-dyed for the highest color fastness — through washing, sweat, and sunlight — it is the only vat-dyed industrial rayon embroidery thread in the world, certified OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100.
— THE TOWELS —

Four canvases for your name.

星羅
Guest Towel
$49
舞蹴
Face / Hand Towel
$69
咲愛
Ikeuchi Organic
$89
想凛亜
Pair Gift Set
$129
2CM EMBROIDERED CHARACTERS · UP TO 3 KANJI INCLUDED · +$5 PER EXTRA CHARACTER
TOWEL: 100% COTTON, WOVEN IN IMABARI · THREAD: 100% RAYON (PEARL YACHT) · OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100
— HOW IT WORKS —

Three quiet steps.

01
Tell us who you are
Your name, your passions, your own words. The more of yourself you share, the deeper the reading.
02
Receive your kanji
Three readings, each explained in words worth keeping. Ask again until one feels like you.
03
Embroidered & shipped
Your kanji is stitched in Imabari and sent from Japan to your door, anywhere in the world.
FOR YOURSELF · FOR SOMEONE DEAR · THE GIFT OF A NAME
Let us read the spirit of your name.
What kanji are truly yours?
✦  DISCOVER YOUR NAME — FREE  ✦
KOTODAMA NAME — YOUR TRUE NAME, IN KANJI · SLOWSTUDIO, IMABARI, JAPAN