Reference mark


The reference mark or reference symbol "※" is a typographic mark or word used in Chinese, Japanese and Korean writing.
The symbol was used historically to call attention to an important sentence or idea, such as a prologue or footnote. As an indicator of a note, the mark serves the exact same purpose as the asterisk in English. However, in Japanese usage, the note text is placed directly into the main text immediately after the komejirushi symbol, rather than at the bottom of the page or end of chapter as is the case in English writing.

Names

The Japanese name, komejirushi, refers to the symbol's visual similarity to the kanji for "rice".
In Korean, the symbol's name, chamgopyo, simply means "reference mark". Informally, the symbol is often called danggujangpyo, as it is often used to indicate the presence of pool halls, due to its visual similarity to two crossed cue sticks and four billiard balls.

Unicode

In Unicode, the symbol has code point