ゆ has connotations for hot water and bathhouses, are there other examples of this shorthand?


You often see hiragana ゆ in bathhouses, and [after reading this
answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/57649/why-
is-%E3%82%86-written-in-hiragana-on-bath-houses-noren), I think I understand
why. I have noticed hiragana nu ぬ at festivals on banners, and wondered what
do these characters represent in that context?

Is there a term for seeing these characters in these places? Are there some
other noteworthy examples of a hiragana character being used as shorthand for
a point of interest?




If it was not ぬ but め, it refers to firefighters in the Edo period. This め is
originally just a code name of a certain firefighting team, somewhat akin to
Alpha/Beta/Delta (Team) used in English-speaking military.

> ### [Fires in Edo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fires_in_Edo)
>
> Forty-eight groups were formed to the west of the Sumida River. All of them
> except four were designated using single hiragana letters and thus were
> collectively referred to as the iroha 48 gumi (いろは 48 組, "48 alphabetical
> groups").

め組【ぐみ】, which just means "め-group", has become the subject of many fictional
stories after the Edo period. For example, see
[暴れん坊将軍](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unfettered_Shogun). The hiragana め
has become somewhat like a nationally-known symbol of traditional Japanese
firefighters.

> Are there some other noteworthy examples of a hiragana character being used
> as shorthand for a point of interest?

ゆ and め are not "shorthands". ゆ on its own means "hot water", and め is just a
code letter. There are not many similar examples, either. Perhaps many
Japanese people know Hisaya Daikokudo's [unique ぢ ("hemorrhoid")
ad](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%92%E3%82%B5%E3%83%A4%E5%A4%A7%E9%BB%92%E5%A0%82).

