The car brand whose name comes from the Japanese words for “three diamonds” is Mitsubishi.
The name combines mitsu, meaning “three,” with hishi, meaning water caltrop or rhombus. Through a Japanese sound change called rendaku, hishi becomes bishi in the compound Mitsubishi. The three diamond shapes also reflect the crests associated with founder Yatarō Iwasaki’s family and the Tosa domain.
Iwasaki founded the business in 1870 as a shipping company, originally called Tsukumo Shokai. It was renamed Mitsubishi Shokai in 1873, and the emblem became one of Japan’s best-known corporate marks. Mitsubishi later expanded into mining, shipbuilding, banking, insurance, heavy industry and automobiles.
A common mix-up is treating Mitsubishi as only a car maker. Mitsubishi Motors is the automotive company, while the wider Mitsubishi Group consists of numerous formally independent companies. The three red diamonds are therefore both a logo and a link to a much older industrial group.