Mitsubishi logo history in WW2

by 94Impact

Hi r/askhistorians, I wanted to ask about the history of the Mitsubishi logo and WW2.

I’ve been told by others in the past that the Mitsubishi logo is supposed to be a reference to the propellers of WW2 military fighter planes which they had engineered in order to attack and subjugate neighboring eastern Asian countries as well as Pearl Harbor. I know someone from the X gen who grew up in a military family who refuses to ever buy a Mitsubishi car for this reason.

Is this true or is this just a myth? If it’s a myth, what’s its real history? Is it really accurate to compare the Mitsubishi logo to the logo of the Luftwaffe from Nazi Germany?

ParallelPain

Per the Mitsubishi Group itself, the logo is a combination of two family crests:

  1. The three step water-caltrop or three step rhombus crest, which is the clan crest of the company founder Iwazaki Yatarō.
  2. The triple oak leaves crest, which is the clan crest of the Yamauchi, daimyō of Tosa which was Iwazaki Yatarō's home.

Water-caltrop/Rhombus is pronounced "hishi" which when combined with "mitsu" (three or triple) the pronunciation becomes "bishi", hence "Mitsubishi."

Per Mitsubishi, the logo was first used on the company's ships, back when the company was called Tsukumo Company in the first few years of the Meiji Restoration, and was basically a shipping company based in Tosa.

EDIT: Company's English link here