The old icon of Git Extensions is based on a Japanese Kanji 哉, but there is literally no information on the internet about its origin

Question

The old icon of Git Extensions is based on a Japanese Kanji 哉, but there is literally no information on the internet about its origin. Anybody knows why?

I wish somebody could share some background stories about how this icon was created.

Answer 1

Looking at commit introducing the icon, I would say it is a derived icon made by GitExtensions creator, based on the arrow switch icon and git icon from (available in Creative Commons) icons from Yusuke Kamiyamane who is Japanese.

After that, I don't know Japanese and I will let you to your conclusion that the "arrow switch" icon is based on this kanji.

Note:

1. I dig in history without certitude and it could either be a derived work or maybe an icon could have been kindly created by Yusuke Kamiyamane (even if we have no trace of that). But we could be pretty sure that the icon is based on it's original work.
2. For the mention "We thank Yusuke Kamiyamane for the icons" in GitExtensions page, we can't be sure if it's related to the logo because most of the icons used in GitExtensions project are the one of the Fugue icons (because a lot are inspired by git notions --branch, repositories, ...--)

The original icons: