Help Deciphering Kanji for Restaurant

[heyslevin]

Hi there!

I have a curious question and was wondering if someone here could help me.
I work in a branding agency, and we are rebranding an authentic Japanese restaurant.

A little background:
The restaurant had 2 owners, an original Japanese chef, and an American associate. The Japanese Chef has since passed away. The American associate wants to rebrand the restaurant. The restaurant's name is Hanaichi, and has a Kanji Logotype (an old one). The Kanji supposedly spells out "Hanaichi" as well.

We (the branding agency) want to preserve the Kanji, but make it look more polished and modern.
From what I've researched, the top part of the Kanji means "Hana", and I've found the appropriate Kanji and polished it.
The bottom part I'm guessing means "Ichi", but I haven't found any similar Kanji.

My question are these:
1. What is the cloud drawing around the "Hana"? Is it decoration or does it have any meaning?
2. The "Ichi" symbol, is it accurate or it a kind of stylized version of the "ichi" Kanji?

My objective is to understand what can and can't be modified so the Kanji doesn't lose its meaning.

Here is an image of what we're working with: http://imgur.com/7HKrk0z

Thank you all in advance!

[community.japanese]

san,
konnichiwa.
Japanese food was selected for the world heritage so I think it has become more popular and more popular.


1. What is the cloud drawing around the "Hana"? Is it decoration or does it have any meaning?
I think the drawing is a flower because ‘hana’ means ‘flower’ in Japanese.
It might be ‘ume’ (Japanese apricot flower).


2. The "Ichi" symbol, is it accurate or it a kind of stylized version of the "ichi" Kanji?
Yes, your new versions have the correct letters.
いち are called hiragana and phonetic.
い is pronounced ‘i’ and ち is pronounced ‘chi.’
Kanji ‘一’ (pronunciation ‘ichi’, meaning ‘number one’) is often used people’s names and restaurant names.
Kanji 壱 is another kanji which means ‘number one.’
Kanji 市 is also pronounce ‘ichi’ which means ‘market’ or ‘a place many people come.’
Kanji is ideogram so it tells you the meaning.
If you use kanji, kanji background people get the meaning and will have special impressions.

Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

[mmmason8967]

My question are these:
1. What is the cloud drawing around the "Hana"? Is it decoration or does it have any meaning?

I agree with Yuki: it's a stylised plum blossom. You can draw a simplified plum blossom as five semi-circles attached to a pentagon, in the same way that the five-pointed stars on the American flag are made of five triangles attached to a pentagon. A simplified cherry blossom has a notch at the tip of each of the five petals, making each one roughly heart-shaped. So I'm pretty sure it's a plum blossom, not a cloud or a cherry blossom.

2. The "Ichi" symbol, is it accurate or it a kind of stylized version of the "ichi" Kanji?

As Yuki says, it's written vertically in hiragana characters (which technically aren't kanji, but that might be a bit pedantic from your point of view). I'd guess the meaning as being the number one, since the kanji for that is 一, which is, as you can see, a straight line. If you used 一 in a logo, it might not be recognised as a word since it looks so much like a straight line, so I imagine spelling it out in hiragana removes the potential ambiguity.

マイケル

[community.japanese]

マイケルさん、
どうもありがとうございます。
Yuki　由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

[heyslevin]

Thank you Yuki and mmmason8967!!

This really clears up this mystery for me.

I appreciate the two of you being extra clear for someone with absolutely no knowledge on the fascinating Japanese language.
We'll arrive to a great result thanks to your help.

Best,

Heyslevin

[community.japanese]

Heyslevin san,
Konnichiwa.
We want you to improve your Japanese so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask us.
Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com