Fujita

Fujita is a Japanese surname written with the kanji 藤田, meaning "wisteria field." It is common in Japan and among Japanese communities abroad. The name is also associated with contributions in meteorology through Tetsuya Theodore Fujita, a Japanese-American meteorologist who developed the original Fujita scale for assessing tornado intensity. The scale classified tornadoes from F0 to F5 based on the damage they produced, rather than on raw wind speed alone. Fujita's work advanced field surveys of tornado damage and helped standardize comparisons across events.

In 2007, the United States adopted the Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF-scale), which refines the original approach by using more detailed damage indicators and updated wind estimates. The EF-scale retains the Fujita nomenclature in its name but provides more precise assessment of tornado strength, rated from EF0 to EF5.

The Fujita name thus figures prominently in meteorology as the origin of a widely used system for characterizing tornadoes. Beyond this, Fujita remains a family name and appears in various contexts in Japan and among the diaspora. The kanji 藤田 identify many individuals and institutions, making the surname one of several common Japanese names.