The syllable hi in the katakana syllabary, drawn in white on maroon: a flag of citizen unity born in the 1960s.
Every fact about the flag, each with what it means.
Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
StateFIAV symbol: who may fly the flag.YesIt carries the coat of arms on the cloth.The flag in the words of vexillology and heraldry.
It is a rectangular field —the cloth of the flag —with a 2:3 ratio, maroon, with a white figure in the centre. The figure is the syllable “ヒ” of the Japanese syllabary, drawn with two round curves that cross each other.
Each element and how many of the 1,390 flags in the catalogue carry it. In yellow, the rarest.
Every date in its story, at a glance.
Hiroshima is known worldwide for being the first city to be struck by an atomic bomb, in 1945
The prefecture approved the emblem in July 1966 and two years later
In the full fever of symbols of 1968
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
Hiroshima is known worldwide for being the first city to be struck by an atomic bomb, in 1945. But its flag is not about that: it was born more than twenty years later and shows, in white on a deep maroon, the syllable hi (ヒ) of the katakana syllabary, the first one of the name of the prefecture.
The prefecture approved the emblem in July 1966 and two years later, on 16 July 1968, notification number 572 regulated the flag that carries it. In the full fever of symbols of 1968, Hiroshima chose a design of modern lines, with no coats of arms from the past.
The flag has not changed since it was established.
White hi
the initial syllable of Hiroshima, turned into two round curves.
Roundness
according to the prefecture’s official interpretation, the curves symbolise the harmony and unity of the inhabitants, and their overlap, the progress and vigorous development of Hiroshima.
Maroon ground
the rule fixes the shade with the Munsell colour chart 4R 4/11, a very dark red usually called wine colour.
On the flag of Hiroshima the emblem measures 3/5 of the height of the field, the same calculation as the red disc of the national flag of Japan. The prefectural order of 1968 specifies it that way.
The emblem was created in 1966 and the flag in 1968, twenty-one years after the atomic attack, and its official meaning is citizen unity: it does not represent peace or mourning. There is no prefectural flag of peace.
Test what you have read about the flag of Hiroshima.
Sources consulted:
Flag image: Alex Tora, Mike Rohsopht, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0.
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