Tea Dishes
When Kikuji moves his father's tea set, that is a meaningful image. His relationship to vessels will come into question when he attempts to steal love from the female characters. The idea of female energy being a vessel energy is an ancient image and an important one.
The imagery of lipstick
Lipstick is an undeniably female aspect of modern culture, as it was in 1950's Japan. In this novel, the image is used as a bold symbol for eros. To say the daughter is wearing the lipstick of her mother is akin to saying that Kikuji is going to pursue the daughter for the same reasons.
The imagery of origami
The practice of origami is a Japanese phenomenon in which paper is folded into a new creation. The title, Thousand Cranes, is a reference to the Japanese belief that a thousand paper cranes can be offered in exchange for a wish, so in this novel, the title is a reference to the crane as an image of desire.
The imagery of the star
Stars come into question in the last section of the novel, perhaps as an image for divine power. Japanese beliefs in the 1950's were still Shinto or Buddhist in their orientation, so there might be an indication in the novel that stars are a hint to solving the problems of life, understanding the transcendental realm, and understanding the true nature of energy.
