Hey Ashcraft, I got some sort of temple, I think thats what it is anyways in my town with the triforce look on it.

Ill see if I can snap a pic of it.

Where's the picture of the Kamon?

There was a clan in Japan that used an emblem identical to the Triforce. It may have been lifted from that instead of Zelda.

I'm not sure I understand what this post is telling me.

Dynamic_Entry is correct. Go look in any collection of designs or textile arts and you'll definitely find a Tri-Force. It's an old, old symbol.

the triforce is pretty generic, its basically triangles within a triangle. its not suprising at all if there are multiple, completely unrelated sources.

it was also used by natives in the canary islands before colonization around 1400 something.

That's definatly a cryptic post on the origins of something. Especially since it doesn't actually tell any origins of a tri-force. Even a picture would tell more.

That's Enoshima Jinja
http://www.enoshimajinja.or.jp/

I took a pic when I was there too, but I didn't think it was Kotaku worthy...

It is also a small Sierpinski triangle. I had to program that algorithm into my calculator freshman year. I still don't quite know what it is used for.

More likely than not, the Triforce emblem, what with Zelda being a Japanese series, is based off of the Hojo clan's symbol. The Hojo were a samurai clan who controlled a decent amount of Japan for quite some time.

Taken from: http://www.zeldauniverse.net

"The Hojo family crest has the shape that it does because of the family dragon god, the guardian deity of fishermen. According to legend, Tokimasa Hojo (1138-1215) came into a cave on Enoshima, an island south of modern Tokyo. There he prayed that his descendants would be prosperous. And the dragon god, who dwelt in that cave-and there is a statue of the dragon in the cave today-granted him his wish, leaving behind 3 of his scales. These are the scales that are represented in the three triangles of the "Triforce" of the Hojo."

Yep, I remember seeing them all around Kamakura, or Enoshima. Maybe both. Would be really cool to get a verified source.

Ack nevermind, Patient got it.

And that cave, while a very cool seaside cave. Is totally cheesed up with with stobe lights and a "dragon roar" on loudspeakers at the stature. Ah, Japan.

That's not just Enoshima shrine. I too went to a small shrine up in the mountains of Kamakura and saw that symbol everywhere, and it looked very Zelda-ey when it was plastered on an incredibly old wooden donation box and stuck in a cave. Course, all the photos turned out like shite due to the low light levels and a very crappy digital camera, but I done seem dem too! And maybe in keeping with the debt collection agency, praying at that shrine was supposed to help you get wealthy.

Hey...when I was reading that Zelda site posted above...they had a news bit on the news page stating that Nintendo's Stock enbago was lifted on the 6th of March. What's the deal there?

MUHA The 'Triforce' was also the logo for a 70's porno company back in the 70's

Yeah, the Triforce, as stated by Patient, is based off the Hojo clan's seal. I thought most people knew that Nintendo didn't just create it one day. :p

No, this symbol has been around since before Pavlov's triangle. Face it.

This triangle has been around since Pavlov's Triangle.

@Sailorcancer:
Oh, I thought it was for a 70's porno company back in the 20's.

Pavlov's triangle? Pavlov worked in psychology! He is the father of classical conditioning.

Classical Conditioning: The effect of people salivating as soon as they notice a new post on kotaku. A response to an associated stimulus.

Examples abound of someone taking a design or mundane object and turning it into something mysterious to write a story around. Kind of how someone might write a conspiracy story over why there's a pyramid with an eye on the dollar bill. People can't entirely explain the reasoning behind its appearance, making it cool to write stories around.

Whoops. Excuse me. I meant Sierpinski triangle. Excuse the mistake.

Using this symbol makes sense considering zelda is inspired by miyamoto climbing around mountains and caves. He probably saw these quite often as a child or someone just randomly choose a ubiquitous symbol. Personally I prefer my chibi-Mitamoto version.

This symbol was also used by many ancient Celtic tribes. Just like the swastika was used by cultures around the globe until that asshat hitler had to ruin it for everybody else

The symbol can be found in many Shinto shrines around the country (Japan that is). I live in the western end of Tokyo and there is a shrine in Inokashira park which features the same mark prominently. It too has a number of dragon statues on the premise.