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I've always found this gesture curious, because it looked like the "shooing
away" gesture to me, but Sasuke reacts as though he's being summoned. So I'm
interested to know if this gesture is part of Japanese culture and would be
generally understood.

[![Itachi
](https://i.stack.imgur.com/zgjKH.gif)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/zgjKH.gif)

I'm interested in two things here: Which direction is Itachi flicking his
fingers? Technically speaking, he does both, but the way I understand the
"shooing away" gesture is that you're flicking away, indicating to the other
person to go away, so it could be a matter of how the gesture is understood.
And I'd like to know how widely used this is in Japanese culture (or whether
it's just an Itachi thing), and whether the Japanese would recognize this
gesture as "shooing away" at all. Just an explanation for the gesture,
basically.


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2021-04-02T23:23:13.007
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2021-08-17T04:26:00.127
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question
naruto culture
What is the hand gesture Itachi does when calling Sasuke to him?


Itachi is flicking his fingers towards himself, not outwards (which would be
shooing away someone), which was why Sasuke came over to him. It's called the
[Beckoning sign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beckoning_sign) and it varies
by country.

It's also not just an Itachi thing - it's a common gesture in Japan to call
someone over to you. I believe it's a different gesture compared to Western
countries hence the confusion, which is understandable since I also thought it
was how the Western countries do it. Here's a video demonstrating the gesture:
<https://youtu.be/iBcQFBuj2Os>

It's interesting to note that the 'come here' gestures of some English-
speaking countries are [considered rude in some Eastern countries and is even
a ground for arrest in one country](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cross-
cultural-gestures_b_3437653).

Some resources about hand gestures:

  * <https://englishlive.ef.com/blog/english-in-the-real-world/hand-gestures/>
  * <https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-body-language/>


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2021-04-03T01:21:48.997
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answer