Logo for Mitsubishi Group and subsidiary companies.

The name “Mitsubishi” refers to the three-diamond emblem.

“Mitsubishi” is a combination of the words “mitsu” and “hishi”. “Mitsu” (Kanji) means “three”.

“Hishi” (Kanji) means “water chestnut”, and Japanese have used the word for a long time to denote a rhombus or diamond shape.

Japanese often bend the “h” sound to a “b” sound when it occurs in the middle of a word. So they pronounce the combination of “mitsu” and “hishi” as “mitsubishi”.

Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of the old Mitsubishi organization, chose the three-diamond mark as the emblem for his company.

The mark is suggestive of the three-leaf crest of the Tosa Clan, Yataro’s first employer, and also of the three stacked rhombuses of the Iwasaki family crest.

Simple geometric shape, ineligible for copyright. Had there been any copyright, it would have expired. (This logo has been used at least since 1953.)