Seigaiha青海波

blue ocean waves

Overlapping arcs in staggered rows. The motif travelled the Silk Road — versions turn up in Persia, in Egypt, and on old Chinese maps, where nested semicircles meant water — and was in Japan by roughly the 6th–7th century. The name isn't from the sea at all: it comes from a gagaku court dance called Seigaiha, whose costumes carried the pattern. In The Tale of Genji, around the year 1000, Genji dances it, and his partner — no slouch himself — is “only a common mountain tree next to a blossoming cherry.” Endless waves, so: a wish for peace without end. It's also raked into the gravel of Zen gardens, where it has to be redrawn every few weeks.

Most people who make one of these go dark: near-black ink on black is the most-used palette on the site, because a wallpaper that recedes leaves your icons legible. It looks nothing like the bright version below — which is rather the point of being able to pick.

At a glance

• Pattern Seigaiha
• Subtitle 青海波
• Means blue ocean waves
• First use 6th–7th century
• Signifies peace without end
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