Kanji for Storm

嵐 (arashi) is the storm — and one of the most elegant constructions in the script: 山, mountain, with 風, wind, beneath it. Wind coming down a mountain: that is a storm as Japan’s geography actually makes them. It covers tempests of weather and, figuratively, of history and emotion — 嵐の前の静けさ is “the calm before the storm”, word for word.

The character is famous far beyond weather reports: Arashi is one of Japan’s biggest pop groups, Kurosawa filmed 嵐 in his titles, and as a given name it reads wild and vivid. 嵐 is Jinmeiyō — approved for names — despite being outside the everyday Jōyō set.

The meteorological family around it: 暴風 (violent wind, the official storm), 台風 (typhoon), 雷 (thunder), 竜巻 (tornado — “dragon roll”). But none of them draw the picture the way 嵐 does.