Flag of Aichi

The flag of Aichi is a wine-coloured field, a dark red, with three white hiragana joined in the centre: あ・い・ち, the three syllables of the name of the prefecture.

How it came about

Aichi is a prefecture in central Japan, in the Chūbu region. Its emblem came out of a competition that received 1,600 entries in 1950, and the flag was approved on 15 August of that same year.

The result is a typographic emblem, not a drawing: three characters —the Japanese writing system— linked together to form a single symbol.

How it has changed

It has never changed. It was approved in 1950 and there are no documented later modifications.

What it means

• Wine

  the colour of the field. It is the dark red called enji in Japan, different from bright red.

• Hiragana

  three, あ・い・ち, in white and joined in the centre.

• No coat of arms

  there is no coat of arms, no canton, no other figure.

Fun facts

1. A flag won in a competition

   The emblem of Aichi came out of a competition that received 1,600 entries. It is the usual method in Japan for prefectural emblems: entries are called for and one is chosen. The flag is literally the drawing that won.

2. Three letters that are read at once

   The hiragana あ・い・ち are the three syllables of Aichi. The emblem interlaces them until they become a single motif, so the name is also a figure. Few flags carry the name of the territory so literally.

3. Japan’s red is not red

   The background colour is described as wine, not as red. In Japanese, dark red has a name of its own —enji— and is distinguished from bright red. Japanese flags usually specify the tone precisely, because in a densely populated country the colour does an identifying job.

Location