The kanji 兵 drawn as a wave on sky blue: Hyōgo sums up in its flag the two seas that wash the prefecture, the Sea of Japan and the Seto Inland Sea.
Every fact about the flag, each with what it means.
Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
CivilFIAV 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 7:10 ratio, sky blue and plain, with a white figure in the centre: the Japanese character “兵” (hyō), the first syllable of the name, drawn as if it were a wave.
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.
It was not the first symbol of the house: Hyōgo had an official emblem since 1921
The flag was approved on 10 June 1964 to celebrate the inauguration of the new prefectural…
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The flag of Hyōgo is sky blue with a white figure that looks like a letter blown by the wind: it is the kanji 兵 (hyō), the initial syllable of the name, drawn as a wave. The metaphor is geographical: Hyōgo has a coastline on two seas, the Sea of Japan to the north and the Seto Inland Sea to the south.
The flag was approved on 10 June 1964 to celebrate the inauguration of the new prefectural government building. The official explanation says that the wavy kanji 兵 represents the territory planted between two seas, that the azure blue expresses youth and that the white, clarity and frankness. It was not the first symbol of the house: Hyōgo had an official emblem since 1921, another version of the same kanji that still exists on paper but which the flag left almost unused.
It has not changed since 1964: the same white wave on blue is still hoisted today.
兵 made into waves
the initial syllable of the name turned into a wave: Hyōgo between two seas (official explanation).
Azure blue
youth (official explanation).
White
clarity and frankness (official explanation).
The official emblem of Hyōgo was born in 1921, but since 1964 almost nobody sees it: even the list of prefectures that the Japanese postal service handles uses the flag, and the prefecture itself admits it does not know why the emblem fell out of use.
At the top of building number 2 of the prefectural headquarters, facing the main door, there is a relief of the flag of Hyōgo next to one of the national flag.
Test what you have read about the flag of Hyōgo.
Flag image: Guilherme Paula and Maanshen, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
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